Five arrested on corruption charge

Five people, including a stenographer of the Siddharthanagar basic shiksha adhikari (BSA), were arrested by the special task force on the corruption charge, police said here on Tuesday.

Police recovered Rs 2.5 lakh in cash, a car and letterheads of several public representatives from them.

Those arrested have been identified as Harendra Singh, stenographer; Sachchidanand Pandey, Uska Bazar primary schoolteacher; Awadhesh Mishra, a primary schoolteacher; Babulal Chowdhary, a resident of Balrampur; and Chandradev Pandey, a resident of Gonda.

They have been booked under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

STF unit in-charge Inspector Satya Prakash Singh said they had received information that the stenographer, along with others, was taking money in the name of providing jobs.

"We arrested them from near the Gorakhpur club on a tip-off," he said.

The officer said the accused used to threaten teachers by saying that they had attained their job through wrong means.

They threatened to initiate an investigation against them.

"Later, Sachchidanand and Awadhesh Mishra used to assure them of fixing the issue after taking Rs 2 to 3 lakh," Singh said.

He said the STF had come to know that the stenographer had prepared a list of 400 teachers.