ABP News Impact: Personal secretaries of 3 UP ministers arrested within 12 days of bribery sting

ABP News had exposed how the personal secretaries of the ministers were misusing their office to seek bribe. Following the sting, state government had immediately constituted an SIT to probe the matter.

Personal secretaries of three UP ministers caught seeking bribe in ABP News' sting operation/ Image: ABP News' screengrab

New Delhi: Within 12 days of ABP News’ bribery sting which caught personal secretaries of Uttar Pradesh ministers seeking bribe ‘red-handed’, the SIT set up by the Yogi government has made swift arrests of all the three men exposed in the report. Displaying a prompt response after the sting the three personal secretaries were arrested by the Special Investigation Team of UP Police on the charges of corruption and bribery on Saturday. Speaking on the development, UP deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said: “corruption in any form can never be tolerated in Yogi government.” ABP News had exposed how the personal secretaries of the ministers were misusing their office to seek bribe. Following the sting, state government had immediately constituted an SIT to probe the matter. Earlier in the case, the state government has also ordered an inquiry by a Special Investigation Team and an FIR was lodged against Om Prakash Kashyap, SP Tripathi, and Santosh Awasthi by the administrative departments of the secretariat. The secretaries who were caught ‘red-handed’ asking for money in exchange of getting work done, were those of UP Minister of State for Mining, Excise, and Prohibition Archana Pandey, Backward Classes Welfare Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar and UP Minister of State for Education Sandeep Singh. In the sting operation, Om Prakash Kashyap, personal secretary of Backward Welfare Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar is purportedly seen seeking Rs 40 lakh for a transfer. Santosh Awasthi, the secretary to Sandeep Singh, was caught asking for 'appropriate share' in return for books' contract in UP schools, while SP Tripathi secretary to Archana Pandey was caught saying that in a mining contract in Saharanpur there is a possibility of 100 per cent loot. Reacting to the revelation, the Bharatiya Janata Party had said that strict action will be taken against those caught in the bribery sting. It said the party works on 'zero tolerance' on corruption and the chief minister had earlier issued clear instructions to adopt complete honesty in the government's functioning and clarified that the government had a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption.