Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Vigilance Establishment arrested a junior engineer of Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), a supervisor and an alleged middleman for accepting a bribe of Rs 7.5 lakh, officials said on Saturday.The accused were identified as Dinesh Kumar Verma (34), junior engineer, LDA; Chandra Prakash (59), LDA supervisor; and Shravan Kumar (32), the alleged middleman.According to the complainant, Verma had objected to construction on his property and directed him to stop the work. He was later informed that Shravan Kumar had lodged a complaint against the construction on the Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGRS) portal and was advised to contact him to resolve the issue.Investigators said Shravan demanded Rs 15 lakh from the complainant. The latter subsequently met Verma and Chandra Prakash at the LDA office, where the demand was allegedly reiterated.Unable to arrange the amount, the complainant offered to pay it in two instalments of Rs 7.5 lakh each. Instead of paying the bribe, he approached Vigilance Establishment and lodged a complaint.During the probe, investigators found that the three accused were allegedly acting in collusion, using complaints filed through the IGRS portal to pressure property owners and extort money. The allegations were corroborated through surveillance and technical verification.After verifying the complaint, Vigilance Establishment laid a trap and caught the trio red-handed while allegedly accepting the first instalment of Rs 7.5 lakh.A case has been registered under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and further investigation is underway. Vigilance officials have urged citizens to report corruption through the state’s anti-corruption helpline.
