New Delhi: “A high profile tout”—that’s how senior police officers of Uttar Pradesh describe Nikant Jain, the alleged middleman at the centre of a controversy surrounding approvals for a solar power plant project in Lucknow. Jain was arrested the same day IAS officer and Invest UP CEO Abhishek Prakash was suspended by the Yogi Adityanath government over allegations of corruption in connection with the project.
Jain, 39, had allegedly sought bribes on behalf of an IAS officer from an industrial group, which had applied for approval of their solar plant proposal through Invest UP, to get it through bureaucratic hurdles.
According to sources in the Uttar Pradesh Police, Jain, 39, has known Prakash for at least the last six years. The IAS officer has earlier also served as the district magistrate (DM) of Lucknow. The sources added that the two became friendly during the Covid-19 pandemic, when Prakash was serving as the Lucknow DM.
“Nikant Jain is a high-profile tout. He is well-connected and has been in touch with several government officials. He had a habit of name-dropping in conversations. His family is well-known here and has multiple businesses and companies which helped him network with people and get through to senior officials,” a senior UP Police officer told ThePrint.
“His father Sudhir Jain is accused of running a lottery racket in Meerut,” the officer added.
The Lucknow Police have frozen all bank accounts belonging to Jain and his wife, and have sealed his business consultancy office. His electronic devices have been sent for forensic examination.
Jain, the officer quoted earlier said, is also a partner in some of his brother Sukant Jain’s group of companies.
According to the Lucknow Police, Jain has three previous cases lodged against him. Originally from Meerut, he studied till Class 10, and his family shifted to Lucknow around 25 years ago.
The cases against him include an FIR lodged in 2018 in Meerut on charges of cheating, criminal intimidation and criminal breach of trust. In 2019, another case was lodged against him in Lucknow, under the same charges. In 2020, another case was lodged against him in Etah under IPC sections for criminal breach of trust.
Nishant’s arrest in the current case came after an FIR was lodged against at the Gomti Nagar police station in Lucknow.
The FIR, police sources said, was lodged on the basis of a complaint submitted by an employee of SAEL Solar P6 Private Limited, alleging that a senior government official had given the complainant Nikant Jain’s number after they filed an online application with the Invest UP office.
The FIR, which ThePrint has accessed, says the government official allegedly asked the complainant to speak to Jain, adding that the project will be approved by the empowered committee if he says so. Jain allegedly asked for a 5 percent “advance commission”.
Sources said that Jain’s late father also worked as a contractor. “He leveraged the contacts of his father, a well-known contractor here. He would tell people that he works for the government and many thought that he was well-versed with the inroads to the administration here,” another senior UP Police officer said.
In Lucknow, Jain, sources said, operated mostly out of a posh office located in Gomti Nagar’s Virat Khan area.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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UP, Bihar and Haryana are the usual culprits in such cases. These states account for an overwhelming share of touts in the nation. Pretty much every other person that one comes across hailing from these states is a tout.