From Our Correspondent
GUWAHATI: Nineteen more serving government officials including a daughter of a senior BJP MP from the state, were arrested by Assam Police on Wednesday as their handwriting did not match with that in their answer sheets in the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) examination held in 2016, police said.
The Dibrugarh Police, which is probing the cash-for-job scam in the APSC, had summoned the 19 officers of the Assam Civil Service (ACS), Assam Police Service (APS) and allied services of the 2016 batch to appear for handwriting tests after forensic examinations of their answer sheets indicated anomalies.
Superintendent of Police, Dibrugarh, Gautam Bora said the handwriting of the 19 officers did not match with their answer sheets that were found to be fake earlier during forensic tests. The officers were arrested in Guwahati, he said.
The recruitment drive was carried out before the incumbent BJP-led government came to power in May 2016. These officials were selected by Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) in the year 2016 and were serving in various locations in the state.
They were called to Assam Police Special Branch headquarters here on Wednesday to undergo a handwriting test and were subsequently arrested. They will be produced in court on Friday.
So far, 55 serving officials have been arrested by the Assam Police in connection with the scam after forensic examination indicated malpractices were adopted by them in connivance with APSC members, officials during the recruitment examination.
Pallabi Sharma (APS) , daughter of the BJP MP from Tezpur Lok Sabha constituency in Assam, R P Sharma were among the officers arrested on Wednesday . The BJP MP cried foul play over the arrest of his daughter and termed it a political conspiracy aimed at him.
He alleged that many other officers who were appointed at the behest of some other powerful political leaders, had been kept out of the investigation process.
It may be mentioned that now removed APSC chairman Rakesh Pal during whose tenure the scam took place has been in police custody since 2016.
Pal’s brother whose printing press in the city was used to print duplicate APSC answer script had however gone underground immediately after the massive job scam was exposed.
The rest of the officials arrested on Wednesday include ACS officers Utpol Bhuyan, Monika Terangpi, Dhruba Jyoti Chakraborty, Manjar Elahi, Sushubhon Das, Barnali Das, Deepsikha Phukon, Saibur Rahman Borbhuyan, Leenakrishna Kakoti, Mustafa Ahmed Borbhuyan, Ganesh Chandra Das, Shrabonti Sengupta , APS officer Bhargav Phukon and allied services officer Suranjeeta Hazarika, Rituraj Neog and Nipon Kumar Pathak. (With added inputs from PTI)