New Delhi, Aug 22 : The Lieutenant Governor (L-G) of Delhi, V.K. Saxena, has referred to Assembly Speaker the Vigilance Department's request for granting prosecution sanction against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Model Town, Akhilesh Pati Tripathi, who is accused of allegedly demanding Rs 90 lakh bribe in lieu of securing AAP ticket to a woman aspirant from Ward No. 69, Kamla Nagar, during last year's MCD elections.

A complaint in this regard was lodged by the womanâ€™s husband, following which a case was registered.

"The Department of Vigilance has found that facts, both human as well as technical, which strongly indicated serious complicity of the MLA and other persons in this bribery case," said the L-G office.

The Vigilance Department has made a strong case against Tripathi in which there is mention of red-handed seizure of money and confirmatory statements by the other accused persons.

The CCTV footage at the house of Wazirpur AAP MLA Rajesh Gupta at about 1.30 a.m. on November 12, 2022 was noticed from where the complainant was seen leaving.

"The CCTV footage also indicates the arrival of Akhilesh Pati Tripathi at the residence of the Wazirpur MLA and staying there for a while. Three persons, including Tripathiâ€™s brother-in-law Om Singh, Shiv Shankar Pandey alias Vishal Pandey (PA of Tripathi), and Prince Raghuvanshi were arrested on November 16, 2022," the L-G office said.

Pandey was arrested from the residence of the complainant where he had gone to return the bribe money after the party ticket was denied to the complainantâ€™s wife.

Pandey was also found in the possession of an ID card issued by the Delhi Vidhan Sabha. Tripathiâ€™s brother-in-law had his Aadahaar card which was bearing the address of the MLAâ€™s office.

All the arrested accused persons confessed during the investigation that Rs 33 lakh cash was given by Tripathi to return to the husband of the ticket aspirant.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had registered an FIR against Tripathi and three of his acquaintances on the complaint lodged by the husband of the woman aspirant under the relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption (POC) Act and the Indian Penal Code on November 15, 2022.

The ACB claimed that Tripathi was not cooperating with the investigation and did not answer properly the questions asked to him.

The name of Wazirpur AAP MLA Rajesh Gupta also cropped up during the investigation. It was alleged that Rs 20 lakh was paid to Gupta at the behest of Tripathi.

Ward No. 69, Kamla Nagar, for which the alleged bribe money was paid is located in the Assembly constituency of MLA Tripathi and his recommendation for candidature of the councillor's ticket was crucial.

The L-G, while referring the matter to the Speaker of the Delhi Assembly, noted that the Speaker is the competent authority to grant prosecution sanction in the present case, as the accused is a sitting MLA.

"The Supreme Court judgment in P.V. Narasimha Rao versus CBI (1998) case also held that the Speakerâ€™s sanction is needed for the prosecution of MPs and MLAs for offences committed under the POC Act as they are the public servants," the L-G office added.