Video, audio clip leaks | Bribes, bigamy (charges) and a chiding: AAP MLAs, ministers not new to controversy

The clip had gone viral on September 11 last year after it was allegedly leaked by his OSD Tarsem Lal Kapoor, who was reportedly upset with the minister for not defending his relative in a police case. Sarari was later quietly removed by the CM in January.

Before that, another former minister, Dr Vijay Kumar Singla, was removed from the Cabinet by the CM, who himself had stated that the minister — who held the health portfolio — was involved in corruption cases and they had proof of the same. It was stated that the CM had himself heard the audio in which Dr Singla was heard demanding kickbacks in a tender related to the purchase of health equipment. Singla was sacked on May 24 and was subsequently booked under sections 7 and 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Although he was arrested, he managed to make bail in the case after the state Vigilance Bureau failed to produce the alleged audio clip in court.

Earlier in August last year, an objectionable video of first-time Sanaur MLA, Harjit Singh Pathanmajra, had also gone viral. The Opposition then had demanded that Pathanmajra be booked for bigamy. However, the controversy soon died down with the party not taking any action against him. Pathanmajra had said that his second wife had blackmailed him into marrying her and his first wife had no objection to the same. Later, the police had booked his second wife, Gurpreet Kaur for having leaked the video.

In another video, Cabinet Minister Chetan Singh Jauramajra, who was the health minister then, was seen asking former Vice Chancellor of Baba Farid University Health Sciences, Dr Raj Bahadur, to lie down on a dirty mattress during an inspection of the hospital attached to the university. Later, an embarrassed Dr Raj Bahadur, who is a top spinal surgeon, resigned from the university. He did not withdraw his resignation even after CM Bhagwant Mann personally intervened. The CM had later divested Jauramajra of the health portfolio.

More recently, in February this year, AAP MLA from Bathinda (rural), Amit Rattan Kotfatta, was arrested after a video had surfaced in which the minister’s aide, Risham Garg, was seen accepting a bribe in the MLA’s presence. The Vigilance Bureau had arrested Garg at the Circuit House gate in Bathinda after the complaint by the husband of the Ghudda village sarpanch. At that time, MLA Rattan was inside a room at Circuit House and the complainant had claimed that the MLA had told him to hand over Rs 4 lakh to Risham Garg. Later, the complainant had also released an audio, in which the MLA was purportedly seeking a bribe. CM Mann had then got the audio clip checked by a forensic lab before giving his approval for the arrest of the MLA.

In yet another video, Punjab Transport Minister, Laljit Bhullar, was spotted atop the sunroof of a car, as he waved to the cameras. His bodyguards were spotted precariously hanging out of the windows of the SUV. He was seen being escorted by two gypsies, while a BMW followed his Ford Endeavour.

Though the exact date on which the video was shot remained unclear, the footage had gone viral on social media. The government did not react to the video.

AAP had earlier ousted it former state convener of Punjab, Sucha Singh Chottepur, after claiming that they had a video of the man allegedly seeking a bribe. However, the video never was released in the public domain.