New Delhi, Nov 08: In what can be called as a biggest anti-corruption crackdown by the Sarbananda Sonowal-led BJP government in Assam, 14 officers recruited by the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) were taken into custody on Wednesday for their alleged involvement in a cash-for-jobs scam. The officers who belonged to 2013 batch were picked up by police from different locations early on Wednesday.
Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal commended the police for the “achievement against corruption” and said none of the officers who had secured jobs through bribery would be spared.”Our government has adopted a zero tolerance policy against corruption and the fight against corruption will continue,” Sonowal said.
“We had recovered the fake answer scripts of some candidates from the APSC office last year. In June this year, we summoned 25 of the officers selected by the APSC for matching their handwriting with the fake answer scripts. “The arrests were made after the forensic laboratory matched their handwriting with the fake answer scripts,” said Director General of Police Mukesh Sahay.
Earlier in May this year, Three Assam Civil Service (ACS) officers were arrested in connection with the cash-for-job scam. The officers were arrested by a police team from Dibrugarh district and interrogated in the headquarters of police’s Special Branch
The police had last year arrested APSC Chairman Rakesh Kumar Paul and members of the Commission, including Samedur Rahman and Basanta Kumar Doley, and three other officials of the Commission who allegedly took money for selecting candidates for the state services.
The breakthrough in the cash-for-jobs scam took place last year after a police team in Dibrugarh led by Additional Superintendent of Police S.S. Panesar arrested an engineer of the Town and Country Planning Department while accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh.
