A retired DIG, who was convicted with an alleged scam in the recruitment of Assam police sub-inspectors, was arrested near the border between Nepal and Bengal and handed over to the police on Tuesday.
The retired DIG, P.K. Dutta, reportedly went into hiding after question papers for the written recruitment test of 597 sub-inspectors leaked on September 20. The review was canceled and rescheduled and, consequently, the CID and the Crime Division reported cases. Dutta was confirmed to have crossed to Nepal and taken shelter in his daughter’s house.
During the investigation, it became clear that the question papers, which were shared on social media, originated from Dutta’s mobile phone. He allegedly carried out a mock test in a Guwahati hotel owned by him a day before the written examination for some candidates he had offered jobs instead of money.
At least 22 people, including the leader of the BJP, Dibon Deka have been arrested in connexion with the case so far. However, Deka, who unsuccessfully contested the elections to the BJP Assembly in 2011, was expelled from the party on the day of his arrest in connexion with the case. The police called Deka and Dutta the prime suspects in the case.
The alleged scam caused a political storm ahead of next year’s Assembly elections, with the opposition Congress demanding CBI’s investigation of the incident and the resignation of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
Congress said that the “scam” proved Sonowal’s vow to make Assam a corruption-free state false.