Senior Assam Police officer and former Superintendent of Police (SP) Karimganj, Kumar Sanjit Krishna, has been the latest to be sent to 5-day custody by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday evening last in connection with the Sub-Inspector (SI) exam paper leak case.
Sanjit Krishna’s name surfaced after one of the accused, Rubul Hazarika, named him as the official who had given him access to the question papers against payment of a hefty sum. Sources said that Krishna has admitted to his involvement in the scam against a sum of Rs 40 lakhs. Krishna's connection came to light after tracing of the leak came from Karimganj where he was posted.
According to Pratidin Time, the question paper was leaked on September 18. Kumar Sanjit Krishna took out a question paper from a trunk in his custody and handed over the same to Rubul Hazarika, one of the partners of Akshay Telecommunication. Hazarika took a photo of the question paper and forwarded it to the broker through WhatsApp.
Meanwhile, Akshay Telecommunication is the company which got the sub-contract for conducting the exam. While the owner Akshay Chand is absconding, the team of Assam police including CID officials conducted raids in the houses of Akshay Chand Baid and his aide Rubul Hazarika. Earlier, the godown of Akshay Chand was set on fire mysteriously.
So far the primary names involve Rubul Hazarika, former Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) PK Dutta, Pranjal Baruah, ex Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Diban Deka and Saroj Sarma. Investigations revealed a nexus among them. The CID has not revealed the outcome of the interrogations of Diban Deka and Pk Dutta.
As per reports, the entire team of PK Dutta, Diban Deka and the brokers had virtually conducted the examination on September 19 with the question paper leaked by Sanjit Krishna even before the actual date of the exam scheduled on September 20.
The anomalies in the recruitment came to light after the question paper of the written test for sub-inspectors in Assam Police was leaked on September 20, hours ahead of the commencement of the examination. Following that, the chairman of State Level Police Recruitment Board (SLPRB), Assam, Pradeep Kumar has resigned from his position.
This led to the start of the investigation after Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal vowed that all the culprits involved in the exam paper leak would be under investigation. Following this, various high profile names and officials have been arrested and detained with over 30 people arrested.
A special team of police and CID arrested PK Dutta. Diban Deka also surrendered before the Patacharkuchi police in the newly-formed Bajali district. The CID, Assam Police detained Saroj Sarma from the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport while Rubul Hazarika was detained in Nalbari district in lower Assam. Both were on the run since September 20.
Although, the BJP has expelled Diban Deka, the Congress has accused the party of running a syndicate for appointments to government state departments. Leader of Opposition and Congress Leader, Debabrata Saikia, stated, “The police have been unable to muster the courage even to question other suspects because the latter enjoy political protection.”
The police recovered crores of rupees from one of the accused Rupam Das’s father-in-law’s house at Abhayapuri in Bongaigaon district. Cash worth Rs 3.33 crores was seized from Tarini Banikya’s house based on the confession made by Rubul Hazarika. On the other hand, cash worth Rs 15 lakhs was seized from one Pradip Mazumder in Bongaigaon while Rs 1.15 crores was recovered from Debraj Das’s house from Barpeta. All the three accused are railway employees and close aides of Rubul Hazarika.
After the scam was detected, the test to fill up 597 posts, conducted on September 20, was cancelled even while the candidates were writing their answers in the exam halls. Around 66,000 candidates had appeared for the exam.
