APSC cash-for-job scam : Court sent Rakesh Paul and his associate to 14-day police remand

Rakesh Kumar Paul, who was garnted bail by the Supreme Court in the case number 936/2016 on Aug 16 last, was re-arrested by the Guwahati city police on Aug 17 in a fresh case, ostensibly to prevent his release from jail on bail.

Police also arrested an employee of APSC Musharraf Hussain, who also known a close aid of Rakesh Kumar Paul in the case number 159/2017 registered at Bhangagarh police station in Guwahati under sections 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) and 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) of the IPC and Sections 13(1)(a)(d)(iii) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The Guwahati city police on Friday produced them before the Special court and the court sent them to 14-day police remand.

Paul, who is lodged at Guwahati central jail, after his arrest in November last year alleged that it is a conspiracy made against him to prevent his release from jail on bail. The complainer of the new case Bedanta Bikash Das alleged that, Paul and Hussain had demanding Rs 15 lakh from him for a government job.

Police have already arrested two former members of APSC Samedur Rahman, Basanta Doley, three ACS officials Bhaskarjyoti Dev Sharma, Bhaskar Dutta, Amit Sharma APSC official Pabitra Koiborta, Engineer Nabakanta Patir and few others.

Earlier, the sleuths of Dibrugarh police had grilled 25 government officials in connection with the cash-for-job scam of Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) at the office of Assam police special branch on June 9 last.

According to the reports, son of a former Congress minister, relative of a Union minister are among the officials, who were grilled by the investigating team.

The 25 officials including Assam Civil Service (ACS), Assam Police Service (APS), who were declared successful in the 2013 APSC examination and appointed by the state government in 2015 were grilled by the Dibrugarh police team led by ASP Surajit Singh Panesar and Subhasish Baruah for several hours.

Former Congress minister Nilamoni Sen Deka’s son ACS officer Rajarshi Sen Deka and Union minister Rajen Gohain’s relative Sunayana Aideu (Superintendent of Taxes) were also grilled in connection with the cash-for-job scam with other officials.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)