Lucknow: A Lucknow sub-inspector, Dhananjay Singh, was caught red-handed by the Anti-Corruption team while taking a ₹2 lakh bribe from a coaching institute owner accused in a gangrape case. The bribe was allegedly demanded in exchange for removing the accused’s name from the case.
The operation took place Wednesday evening at the Paper Mill Colony police outpost under Mahanagar police station. A one-minute video, accessed exclusively by reporters, shows the sub-inspector asking the accused, Prateek Gupta, to place four bundles of ₹500 notes into a file. Seconds later, the Anti-Corruption team entered the room and apprehended him on the spot.
According to officials, Singh had demanded ₹50 lakh from Gupta to “settle” the case but agreed to take an initial ₹2 lakh. The trap was laid after Gupta filed a written complaint with the Anti-Corruption Bureau. Marked notes were provided to him, and the entire exchange was monitored through audio and visual surveillance.
Police later recovered the same marked notes from the sub-inspector’s file in the presence of two government witnesses.
Singh has been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act at Aliganj police station.
The case relates to a 2025 gangrape FIR filed against Prateek Gupta, the owner of the British School of Language, by his former employee. Gupta has claimed that the case was fabricated after she was dismissed from the institute. He was granted bail earlier this month after the police reportedly found no corroborative evidence of rape during the investigation.
Officials confirmed that further inquiry will determine whether the officer was acting alone or as part of a larger network facilitating such bribe deals.
