NEW DELHI: As Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel declined ‘prosecution sanction’ against AAP legislator S K Bagga in a corruption case, the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) will now approach the High Court against the Speaker’s order, official sources said on Tuesday.
“Yes, we will now approach the Delhi High Court,” a senior ACB official confirmed to this reporter.
Bagga, an MLA from Krishna Nagar constituency in east Delhi, was accused of seeking bribe from an AAP worker, Raju Sachdeva, on various pretexts on different occasions.
According to the 4-year-old FIR, exclusively accessed by this newspaper, Sachdeva had alleged that Bagga took Rs 11,000, Rs 21,000 and Rs 25,000 from him many times and promised to get him a ticket from AAP in the MCD elections of 2017.
Sachdeva, in his complaint, stated that AAP MLA S K Bagga had asked him to organise a Diwali program where he would get Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as a chief guest. “MLA S K Bagga called me to his house and said as you had not given me money before, now you have to pay Rs 5 lakh. Only then I will bring CM Arvind Kejriwal to your Diwali programme,” the FIR read.
Sachdeva, who had recorded all phone conversations, approached the ACB. The ACB, accordingly, registered an FIR under sections 7 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and under section 506 (Criminal Intimidation) of the IPC.
During the course of investigation, voice samples of both Bagga and Sachdeva were taken by ACB and sent for forensic study. Sources said the FSL report confirmed that the recordings were genuine.
The ACB, in February last year, sought Assembly Speaker’s permission to prosecute Bagga under the Prevention of Corruption Act, however, it was not granted. The matter was then referred to the Law authorities which advised to challenge the Speaker’s order before the High Court after seeking LG’s approval.