<p class="title">The police on Friday arrested Abhishek Gupta, a trader, who had accused Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's Principal Secretary S P Goyal of demanding a bribe of Rs. 25 lakh hours before a press meet.</p>.<p>Gupta was whisked away by police personnel, who were in plain cloths, from his house in the morning for what the police said was ''questioning''.</p>.<p>The state BJP had lodged a report accusing Gupta of using names of senior saffron party leaders to ''exert pressure'' on the chief minister secretariat officials.</p>.<p class="title">Controversy had erupted after state governor Ram Naik wrote a letter to Adityanath asking him to investigate Gupta's complaint, which was filed with him a few months back.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Gupta, in his complaint, claimed that Goyal had demanded a bribe of Rs 25 lakh to clear the transfer of land in his favour.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Gupta had sought to buy the land as it was located in front of the land he had bought for a petrol pump in Hardoi district, about 100 kilometre from Lucknow.</p>.<p class="bodytext">''Goyal kept my file pending as I refused to pay the bribe,'' Gupta said in the complaint.</p>.<p class="bodytext">As the governor's letter to the chief minister leaked late on Thursday night, the BJP went into an overdrive and lodged a report with the police accusing Gupta of using the names of senior party leaders to ''pressurise'' the officials.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Gupta had convened a press conference to put forward his point of view in the matter but was apprehended a few hours before by the police in a dramatic fashion.</p>.<p class="bodytext">''Gupta has been detained for questioning,'' Lucknow police chief Deepak Kumar said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Akhilesh Yadav demanded a CBI probe into the matter.</p>.<p class="bodytext">''It is a serious matter... it should be probed by the CBI... corruption has increased manifold under the BJP regime,'' he said.</p>
<p class="title">The police on Friday arrested Abhishek Gupta, a trader, who had accused Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's Principal Secretary S P Goyal of demanding a bribe of Rs. 25 lakh hours before a press meet.</p>.<p>Gupta was whisked away by police personnel, who were in plain cloths, from his house in the morning for what the police said was ''questioning''.</p>.<p>The state BJP had lodged a report accusing Gupta of using names of senior saffron party leaders to ''exert pressure'' on the chief minister secretariat officials.</p>.<p class="title">Controversy had erupted after state governor Ram Naik wrote a letter to Adityanath asking him to investigate Gupta's complaint, which was filed with him a few months back.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Gupta, in his complaint, claimed that Goyal had demanded a bribe of Rs 25 lakh to clear the transfer of land in his favour.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Gupta had sought to buy the land as it was located in front of the land he had bought for a petrol pump in Hardoi district, about 100 kilometre from Lucknow.</p>.<p class="bodytext">''Goyal kept my file pending as I refused to pay the bribe,'' Gupta said in the complaint.</p>.<p class="bodytext">As the governor's letter to the chief minister leaked late on Thursday night, the BJP went into an overdrive and lodged a report with the police accusing Gupta of using the names of senior party leaders to ''pressurise'' the officials.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Gupta had convened a press conference to put forward his point of view in the matter but was apprehended a few hours before by the police in a dramatic fashion.</p>.<p class="bodytext">''Gupta has been detained for questioning,'' Lucknow police chief Deepak Kumar said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Akhilesh Yadav demanded a CBI probe into the matter.</p>.<p class="bodytext">''It is a serious matter... it should be probed by the CBI... corruption has increased manifold under the BJP regime,'' he said.</p>