In a sensational incident in Kharupetia under Darrang district in Assam, a school headmaster was caught red-handed while taking bribe on Friday in lieu of providing certificates for enrolling names in the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
It is reported that the headmaster has been identified as Abdul Hamid of Baharbari Girls’ Lower Primary (LP) School and he was caught red-handed while taking bribe in exchange of providing educational certificates. He is alleged to have taken Rs 500-1,000 in exchange of providing those certificates to enroll names in the ongoing NRC updation process in Assam.
The people of the area have demanded stringent action against the headmaster and he was handed over to the police. Police sources stated that “investigations are on”. Reports of corruption have surfaced earlier too in the entire NRC exercise going on in the State. In April this year, the police in Western Assam’s Dhubri town detained two special verification officers who were assigned the job of updating the NRC for demanding ‘service charge’ from people summoned to submit documents establishing their citizenship.
There have been several reports of people offering bribes, submitting forged documents or borrowing legacy data of genuine citizens to be included in the citizen’s register. Earlier this year, in Darrang district’s Sipajhar too, police arrested two people of suspected nationality – San Khan and Nayan Khan – for offering to bribe Rs 20,000 to the NRC officials for including their names in the second draft.
Officials said at least half a dozen such cases have been reported from Central Assam’s Nagaon and Morigaon districts with some offering up to Rs 2 lakh to get their names included in the NRC.