Who is Jaikrishn Patel, first-time Rajasthan MLA caught ‘red-handed’ accepting ₹20 Lakh bribe?

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Rajasthan on 4 May arrested Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Jaikrishn Patel ‘red-handed’ for allegedly taking a bribe of ₹20 lakh for dropping three questions in the state Assembly.

This is the first time in the history of the Rajasthan ACB that an MLA has been arrested in a graft case, Director General (DG) of ACB, Ravi Prakash Meharda told journalists in Jaipur.

"Patel allegedly demanded a bribe of ₹10 crore from the complainant to drop questions related to mines. The deal was settled for ₹2.5 crore. The complainant gave him ₹1 lakh in Banswara at the time of verification. Today, he was trapped on the MLA quarters premises while taking ₹20 lakh," Meharda said.

The DG claimed that the MLA handed over the bag of cash to a man who managed to escape with it. The ACB officials are questioning the legislator about the man. He said that the ACB has audio and video evidence to prove that the MLA demanded and took the bribe, which will help in his conviction.

Who is Jaikrishn Patel?

Patel, 38, is a first-time MLA from Banswara district's Bagidora assembly constituency reserved for tribals (ST). He was elected in the bypolls held along with the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. He defeated the BJP candidate Subhash Tambolia by a margin of over 51,000 votes.

The Bagidora assembly seat fell vacant after Congress MLA Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya switched to the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Patel, who was supported by the Opposition Congress in the bypolls, got 1,22,573 votes, while Tambolia received 71,139 votes. Patel had also contested the 2023 State Assembly election and stood second as Malviya won the seat.

Bagidora is one of the two Assembly constituencies in Rajasthan – the other being Danta Ramgarh in Sikar district – where the BJP has not been able to win ever since its formation in 1980s.

What is BAP?

The BAP emerged as a splinter group from the Gujarat-based Bharatiya Tribal Party. The party’s support base is basically because of its emphasis on the tribal identity, demand for a separate State for the tribal Bhil community, and a promise for 75 per cent reservation for the tribal population in education and jobs.

Overall, Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) has four MLAs in the House of 200-member Rajasthan House. It also has an MP in Lok Sabha from Banswara Rajkumar Roat.

Roat, who is also the BAP convener, said the party will take action against the MLA if his involvement is found.

"It will not be appropriate to say anything on the matter. It could be a conspiracy of the BJP government. We are looking into the matter, and if the involvement of the MLA is found, the party will take suitable action," he said.

What were the questions on mines?

The MLA submitted three questions related to the mines owned by the complainant that are not in the Bagidora constituency.

The mines in question are in Todabhim, about 600 kilometres from Banswara, and are owned by complainant Ravindra Kumar and his father, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ramniwas Meena. In the 2023 Assembly election, Ramniwas had unsuccessfully contested from the Todabhim seat, losing to Congress’s Ghanshyam Mahar.

The ACB DG said that the Assembly speaker was briefed about the case and following his permission, "the trap was executed and the MLA was arrested".

The DG said the MLA was insisting that the complainant come to Banswara with ₹20 lakh but the complainant convinced him to come to Jaipur to take the money.

"The MLA called the complainant in the morning and asked him to come to the MLA quarters (in Jaipur's Jyoti Nagar), following which the ACB teams got activated.

"The complainant went to the MLA quarters where he handed over a bag containing cash to the MLA. The MLA checked the cash and handed over the bag to a man who was present with him," he said.

As soon as the ACB team was signalled by the complainant that the cash had been given, the team present on the premises caught the MLA, the DG said.

The man who was given the bag by the MLA, however, managed to escape with the cash.

No one is above the law: Sachin Pilot

“No one is above the law. It is essential that we practise clean politics. Such incidents create doubts in the minds of people. They should not happen. A thorough investigation should be conducted into the matter,” said Former deputy chief minister and Congress leader Sachin Pilot.

He, however, alleged that investigating agencies are being misused as a political weapon by the Central government. "This has been established now. The ED, income tax and CBI have been given a free hand. The Supreme Court has said that the conviction rate of ED cases is 1 per cent," Pilot told reporters in Jalore.

(With PTI inputs)