An Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator from Bathinda Rural, Amit Rattan Kotfatta (42), who was arrested by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on bribery charges on Thursday morning, was sent to four-day police remand till 27 February.

Rattan’s close aide, Resham Garg, who is in police custody since 16 February, was also presented in the court on Thursday and his remand has been extended for one more day.

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The complaint against the first-time member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) was lodged by the husband of a village sarpanch, Pritpal Kumar, in Bathinda.

According to the complainant, Kotfatta sought Rs 5 lakh as a bribe for releasing a grant worth 25 lakh for the development works of Ghudda village, of which Kumar’s wife Seema Rani is the sarpanch. Kumar said he approached the MLA when the block development panchayat officer (BDPO) of Sangat block was not releasing the funds.

Kotfatta joined Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in 2016 and contested from Bathinda Rural in the 2017 Assembly polls. He lost to the first-timer from the AAP Rupinder Kaur Ruby by a margin of 10,718 votes. After Ruby joined the Congress, Kotfatta joined the AAP before the 2022 Assembly polls and won from the constituency.

Earlier in 2020, the SAD expelled Kotfatta over charges of duping party workers on the pretext of providing them with business opportunities. Even many farmers of the constituency complained that he had cheated them. However, no police case was lodged against him at that time.

Meanwhile, the SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal termed the AAP MLA’s arrest as “too little, too late”.

“This corrupt MLA should have been arrested imm after VB sleuths caught him accepting bribes last week. The Kattar Beimaan Party hasn’t sacked him or other corrupts like Vijay Singla and Fauja Sarari. Shiromani Akali Dal demands all of them be disqualified from the Assembly,” Badal said.

SAD leader Daljit Cheema said the government tried to shield its MLA, but following pressure from various political parties it was forced to arrest him. He demanded an independent inquiry against the MLA.

Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa said with the arrest of corrupt Kotfatta, the stand of Congress has been vindicated. “This is the third AAP MLA in less than a year who has been charged with corruption charges. Is this the Badlav (change) Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal promised to the people of Punjab?,” he asked.

“In coming time more MLAs and a few ministers of AAP who are indulging in corruption will be exposed before the public,” he added.