Bizman held, withdraws bribe charge on Yogi Adityanath's secy
Gupta later took back his accusation issuing an apology.
Lucknow: High drama prevailed in Lucknow on Friday after the police arrested the man who had accused Mr S.P. Goyal, principal secretary to the chief minister, of demanding a bribe of Rs 25 lakhs.
The man Abhishek Gupta’s family reached the chief minister’s residence, demanding justice and wanting to know where their son had been kept by the police.
Late on Friday night, Abhishek Gupta reportedly submitted a written apology and withdrew his charges while in police custody.
A video clip of Gupta saying that he had lost his mental balance when his file for land for petrol pump was rejected by Mr Goyal, went viral on Friday night.
He said he had taken a loan of Rs 1 crore and could not bear the setback.
The video clip was uploaded from an unidentified number and sent to all journalists. The veracity of the video clip could not be verified because none of the senior police officials responded to calls on their mobile phones.
Earlier in the day, Abhishek’s grandfather Om Prakash Gupta, who said he had worked with BJP ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, said, “I have come here to seek justice. The complainant has been arrested which is unprecedented and there is no inquiry against the accused”.
Abhishek Gupta, a resident of Hardoi, had earlier written a letter to UP Governor Ram Naik saying that he had been sanctioned a petrol pump in Raiso village in Hardoi. He said that the width of the road which led to the proposed petrol pump was less than the stipulated width and he had approached Mr S P Goyal, principal secretary to the chief minister, for additional land.
The complainant claimed that the official had demanded Rs 25 lakhs from him for the work.
The governor, on April 30, sent a letter to the chief minister apprising him of the matter and the allegations against the official.
Almost 38 days after the governor sent the letter, the document went viral on the social media on Thursday evening and the BJP office in Lucknow immediately sent a complaint to the SSP saying that Abhishek Gupta was not a BJP worker but was posing as one to take favors from the state government.