ADO recruitment scam: Court convicts ex-APSC chairman Rakesh Paul, 31 others

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJuly 22, 2024

The court of the Special Judge, Assam on Monday convicted 32 accused, including former chairman of Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) Rakesh Paul in connection with the illegal recruitment of an Agriculture Development Officer (ADO) in the APSC in 2015.

The Special Judge pronounced the judgement in connection with case no 5/2021 registered with Bhangagarh police station case No 159/2017.

The court, however, found 32 accused guilty in connection with the scam.

Of them, four are members of the APSC, one APSC employee, three middlemen and 36 ADOs.

Those who have been found guilty are: Rakesh Kumar Paul, Basanta Doley, Samedur Rahman, Phanindra Saikia, Pranab Bharali, Jyotirekha Das, Kabin Killingpi, Prity Das, Alok Kumar Mali, Biswajit Doley, Keshabananda Bora, Barnali Medhi, Bipul Kumar Deka, Sweety Borah Hazarika, Satya Nath Deka, Kamal Krishna Das, Rituraj Sonowal, Anjan Loying, Priyanka Bora, Rukheswar Timung, Sanghamitra Shyam, Bidyut Kumar Das, Alpona Deori, Jayanta Jit Das, Dipankar Barik, Roshan Rafi, Pranjal Barman, Shahil Azi Haque, Kalyan Sarma, Mafida Begum Saikia, Jayanta Chabukdhara and Mrigen Haloi.

While Rakesh Kumar paul, Basanta Doley and Samedur raahman have been awarded 10 years imprisonment, 29 others have been awarded seven years imprisonment for the offences,.

Three middlemen- Vikash Pincha, Kunal Das, and Kaushik Kalita were acquitted by the court.

APSC employee Syed Musharraf Hussain was also acquitted.

Seven other officers (candidates) Beauty Gogoi, Phiruj Moran, Jyotiban Dutta, Saijali Johori, Dhritiman Roy, Mousumi Saikia, Boichitra Hakmaosa were also acquitted by the court.

Apart from Rakesh Kr Paul, those who are convicted are Basanta kr Doley, Samedur Rahman and 29 other candidates.

One member Binata Rynjah was declared approver.

Rakesh Paul, Samedur Rahman, and Basanta kr Doley were convicted under Section 420 read with 120 B of IPC, Section 468 read with 120 B, Section 7 of PC Act read with Section 120 B and Section 13 (2) of PC Act, 1988 read with Section 120B of IPC.

All other accused candidates were convicted under Section 420 read with 120 B of IPC and Section 468 read with 120 B.

The court completed the trial of the case on July 3 against 43 accused named in the scam in the recruitment of ADOs by the APSC, the selection for which was held in 2015 and the results declared in 2016,

The scam came to light after one of the candidates filed an FIR in the Bhangagarh police station in 2017. A case (no 159/17) was registered based on the FIR filed by the candidate.

Notably, Bedanta Bikash Das, a candidate who had also appeared in the examination, lodged an FIR alleging that he was demanded a bribe amounting to Rs 15 lakh against a post of ADO. Das made the allegation against former APSC chairman Rakesh Paul in the FIR.

It was mentioned in the FIR that the advertisement for the ADO posts was published in 2013, and the screening test and viva voce were held in 2015. The result of the selection test was declared in 2016. Around 1,075 optical-mark recognition (OMR) sheets of candidates who appeared in the examination to recruit ADOs were examined during the investigation, and it was found that the answer sheets of 27 candidates were altered and the marks enhanced.

The attendance list and mark sheets were also sent for forensic examination.

Bedanta Bikash Das allegedly paid Rakesh Paul, the then-APSC Chairman, Rs 50,000 in bribes to be selected as ADO.