Lucknow, Aug. 3 -- A day after the Uttar Pradesh Vigilance Establishment arrested a Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) junior engineer, supervisor and an alleged middleman in a Rs.7.5 lakh bribery trap, the complainant, NRI businessman Jitendra Narayan, claimed that the accused had initially demanded Rs.40 lakh to halt action against his commercial complex before gradually reducing the amount to Rs.15 lakh. Speaking to reporters after the arrests, Narayan alleged that he had been subjected to weeks of intimidation, including repeated threats of demolition and sealing of his property, forcing him to consider abandoning his business investment in Uttar Pradesh and returning overseas. According to Narayan, the alleged extortion began after a complaint regarding his commercial complex in Amrai village, Indira Nagar, was filed on the Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGRS). "They initially demanded Rs.40 lakh. When I expressed my inability to pay, they reduced it to Rs.25 lakh and later settled for Rs.15 lakh. The first instalment was fixed at Rs.7.5 lakh," he alleged. An overseas entrepreneur with business interests in Fiji, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, Narayan said he had returned to invest in Uttar Pradesh after years abroad. He further claimed that the middleman repeatedly telephoned him, warning that the complex would be demolished if he failed to pay. Shortly after those calls, LDA officials would allegedly arrive at the construction site, reinforcing the threats. The businessman alleged that before approaching the Vigilance Establishment, he had already transferred around Rs.70,000 online to the accused and had handed over WhatsApp chats and other digital evidence to investigators. After filing a complaint with the Vigilance Establishment around two weeks earlier, officials allegedly advised him to cooperate in a planned trap operation. Following the agreed plan, he called the accused to JPNIC in Gomti Nagar, where he handed over the first instalment of Rs.7.5 lakh. Vigilance officers then arrested junior engineer Dinesh Kumar Verma, LDA supervisor Chandra Prakash, and the alleged middleman Shravan Kumar. Following the vigilance operation, LDA vice-chairman Prathamesh Kumar suspended supervisor Chandra Prakash with immediate effect and recommended the suspension of junior engineer Dinesh Kumar Verma to the state government....