The Special ACB (Cases) Court has remanded Bagidora MLA Jai Krishna Patel and his cousin Vicky Patel in judicial custody and forwarded them to jail in connection with the infamous Rs 20 lakh bribe case involving the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) leader.
MLA Patel and his cousin were presented before the court following the expiry of their police custody on Wednesday. The court ordered judicial custody for the duo in the central jail here.
The ACB sleuths also presented MLA’s aides Jaswant and Jagram to seek police remand for them in ACB custody. The court remanded them in two-day police custody.
Meanwhile, an ACB team visited Patel’s residence at the MLA Nagar Apartment here on Wednesday afternoon to conduct searches and check the footage of the CCTV installed in the apartment.
The ACB on Sunday caught MLA Patel, who represents the Bagidora (ST) constituency in Banswara, for accepting a bribe of Rs 20 lakh. The money was allegedly taken in exchange for dropping three assembly questions related to mining affairs in the Karauli–Toda Bhim area.
Patel said, “This is a political conspiracy; I am being implicated in this conspiracy.”
This is the first instance in Rajasthan when a sitting legislator has been nabbed for accepting a bribe.