Invest UP case: SIT files charge sheet against ‘middleman’ Nikant Jain

LUCKNOW The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing allegations of corruption in Invest UP on Monday submitted a charge sheet against ‘high profile middleman’ Nikant Jain, 39, in the court of special judge, Prevention of Corruption Act. The team is likely to submit a supplementary charge sheet also in near future.

In the chargesheet, Jain claimed that it was at the behest of former CEO of Invest UP he had demanded commission from a company for clearing a project, according to sources in the SIT.  

“If required, a supplementary charge sheet will also be filed soon,” said a senior police official.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had on March 20 suspended Invest UP CEO Abhishek Prakash over allegations of seeking bribe in approving a solar power plant project and ordered a probe against him.

The same day, the Lucknow police arrested Nikant Jain, who was allegedly demanding 5% of the total cost of the project as commission for approving the project.

Jain was allegedly playing the role of a facilitator in executing the project in lieu of a kickback.

An FIR was lodged at the Gomti Nagar police station against Jain under sections of the BNS. The state government took action on the complaint lodged by the company, SAEL Solar P6 Private Limited.

The FIR was lodged on the complaint of Biswajit Datt, employee of the company.

Datt pointed out that his company wanted to set up a plant in the state for manufacturing parts related to solar plants. For this project, the company submitted online and offline applications at the Gomti Nagar office of Invest UP.

The project was vetted by a committee of Invest UP and approved. According to the FIR, a senior official of Invest UP asked Datt to contact one Nikant Jain. When Datt contacted Jain over phone, the latter allegedly demanded 5% of the total cost of the project as kickback.

When Datt refused, the project was again sent for re-evaluation by the Invest UP CEO.