Patel attended the hearing before the House panel headed by Kailash Chand Verma, where he was questioned by the committee in the presence of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) investigating officer Sandip Saraswat.
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Sitting Bagidora (ST) MLA Jai Krishna Patel of the Bharatiya Aadiwasi Party (BAP) on Wednesday appeared before the Rajasthan Assembly Ethics Committee in connection with the infamous case of allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹20 lakh for dropping Assembly questions.
Patel attended the hearing before the House panel headed by Kailash Chand Verma, where he was questioned by the committee in the presence of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) investigating officer Sandip Saraswat.
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The committee also sought responses from investigating officer Saraswat on procedural details related to the MLA’s trapping in May last year.
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After the proceedings, Committee Chairman Kailash Chand Verma said that serious charges have been levelled against MLA Patel. “We have obtained his version and also sought details of the case from the ACB official,” he said.
“We are also working to gather more facts from other possible sources on our own and will take an appropriate view for making recommendations to the Speaker after due deliberation on all aspects at the committee level,” Verma added.
In a first-of-its-kind action in Rajasthan, the Anti-Corruption Bureau had trapped Patel on May 4, 2025, for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹20 lakh.
The amount was allegedly taken in exchange for dropping three starred questions related to mining affairs in the Karauli–Toda Bhim area.
The operation was initiated following a complaint lodged by Ravindra Singh on April 4. Initially, Patel allegedly demanded ₹10 crore to withdraw three starred questions (Nos. 5998, 980, and 628), but the deal was ultimately settled at ₹2.5 crore, with ₹20 lakh paid as the first instalment.
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