LUCKNOW: A day after the Uttar Pradesh Vigilance Establishment arrested a Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) junior engineer, supervisor and an alleged middleman in a Rs 7.5 lakh bribery trap, the complainant, NRI businessman Jitendra Narayan, claimed that the accused had initially demanded Rs 40 lakh to halt action against his commercial complex before gradually reducing the amount to Rs 15 lakh.Speaking to reporters after the arrests, Narayan alleged that he had been subjected to weeks of intimidation, including repeated threats of demolition and sealing of his property, forcing him to consider abandoning his business investment in Uttar Pradesh and returning overseas.“They first demanded Rs 40 lakh”According to Narayan, the alleged extortion began after a complaint regarding his commercial complex in Amrai village, Indira Nagar, was filed on the Chief Minister’s Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGRS).“They initially demanded Rs 40 lakh. When I expressed my inability to pay, they reduced it to Rs 25 lakh and later settled for Rs 15 lakh. The first instalment was fixed at Rs 7.5 lakh,” he alleged.The businessman claimed the accused repeatedly threatened that if he failed to pay, bulldozers would be sent to demolish the building.“I couldn’t sleep for 20 days”Narayan said the alleged threats left him under severe mental stress.“I could not sleep for nearly 20 days. I had begun the process of obtaining a visa to leave India because I felt it had become impossible to do honest business here,” he said.An overseas entrepreneur with business interests in Fiji, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, Narayan said he had returned to invest in Uttar Pradesh after years abroad.“I thought I would invest in my home state after working overseas for years. But the way I was allegedly harassed made me feel that doing business here would not be possible,” he said.Alleged network used IGRS complaintsNarayan alleged that the harassment started after an IGRS complaint was filed against his nearly 10,000-square-foot commercial complex comprising around 50 shops.According to him, after the complaint, officials allegedly began issuing warnings of sealing and demolition while demanding money to stop action.He further claimed that middleman Shravan Kumar repeatedly telephoned him, warning that the complex would be demolished if he failed to pay. Shortly after those calls, LDA officials would allegedly arrive at the construction site, reinforcing the threats.Rs 70,000 already paid onlineThe businessman alleged that before approaching the Vigilance Establishment, he had already transferred around Rs 70,000 online to the accused and had handed over WhatsApp chats and other digital evidence to investigators.After filing a complaint with the Vigilance Establishment around two weeks earlier, officials allegedly advised him to cooperate in a planned trap operation.Following the agreed plan, he called the accused to JPNIC in Gomti Nagar, where he handed over the first instalment of Rs 7.5 lakh. Vigilance officers then arrested Junior Engineer Dinesh Kumar Verma, LDA Supervisor Chandra Prakash, and alleged middleman Shravan Kumar.Vigilance probing larger racketNarayan alleged that the case points to a wider extortion mechanism in which complaints are first lodged on the IGRS portal and are later used to pressure property owners with the threat of demolition unless bribes are paid.According to the businessman, the same individuals who file complaints allegedly act as intermediaries, while officials initiate enforcement action to compel payments.The Vigilance Establishment is now examining whether the alleged bribery was confined to the three arrested accused or whether a larger network within the LDA was operating by exploiting IGRS complaints. Investigators are scrutinising digital evidence, bank transactions, call records and other complaints as part of the probe.LDA initiates departmental actionFollowing the vigilance operation, LDA Vice-Chairman Prathamesh Kumar suspended Supervisor Chandra Prakash with immediate effect and recommended the suspension of Junior Engineer Dinesh Kumar Verma to the state government.The authority has also issued directions to restrict the entry of outsiders into the enforcement section, strengthen scrutiny of IGRS complaints and initiate criminal action against habitual or professional complainants found to be misusing the grievance redressal system.
