Anti-Corruption Organisation (ACO) sleuths arrested an officer of the Power Safety department while taking graft on Thursday. Giving details of the case, SP, ACO, in Lucknow, Rajeev Malhotra said that Vikas Botham, hailing from Bazaarkhala, contacted them and revealed that the staff of the UP power safety office in Vibhuti Khand at Gomti Nagar were demanding money to give him a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) for electric connection in Ms Kriti Enterprises at New Tilak Nagar in Aishbagh.
Malhotra said that he asked Botham to strike a deal and inform them about it. He said that as per the directions, Botham informed them he was going to pay the money of Thursday afternoon. The ACO SP dispatched inspector Jata Shankar Singh, along with other team members. Malhotra said that as Botham paid Rs 60,000 as bribe to the staff, the ACO team arrested him flagrante delicto.
The staff disclosed his identity as Dinesh Kumar Srivastava, junior clerk with assistant director of Power Safety department. A case was registered against him with the Chinhat police station and Srivastava was placed under suspension. Further investigations are on in this regard.
