A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Uttar Pradesh police arrested the personal secretaries of three state ministers on charges of corruption and bribery. Soon after the sting operation of the personal secretaries seeking bribes inside the Vidhan Sabha premise was aired by a news channel, CM Yogi Adityanath led government set up a SIT headed by Additional Director General Rajiv Krishna to probe the charges.
The personal secretaries of three UP Ministers had been suspended on orders of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who had also directed officials to register a police case against them. The Special Investigation Team of police had arrested Ramnaresh Tripathi, Santosh Awasthi, and Om Prakash Kashyap.
Backward Welfare Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar’s personal secretary Om Prakash Kashyap is purportedly seen seeking Rs. 40 lakh for a transfer in the sting video.
SP Tripathi, secretary of MoS (Mining) Archana Pandey, is shown striking a deal with the reporter for getting him mining contracts in about half-a-dozen districts.
Mos Basic Education Sandeep Singh is the grandson of a former UP chief minister and currently the Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh. His personal secretary Santosh Awasthi, is also seen in the sting operation “working out a deal” on a books contract and seeking his own cut in the deal.
The sting operation also produced alleged recordings of a secretariat staffer assuring the reporter posing as a contractor that he would be awarded a schoolbag-and-uniform contract.
All the three corrupt secretaries were arrested and sent to judicial custody as reported by ADG (Lucknow) Rajiv Krishna who is the head of the Special Investigation Team of UP police formed by CM Yogi Adityanath.
