Guwahati: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has taken the decision to suspend one of its party leaders, Bidyut Kalita on Thursday after he was accused of being involved in the Rs 105 crore-State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) scam.
Kalita, hailing from Mirza, had been summoned by the Chief Minister’s Special Vigilance Cell regarding his alleged role in the scam.
However, he did not appear before the cell citing that he was out of the state due to some personal reasons.
Subsequently, a letter surfaced in which Kalita wrote to the CM vigilance, seeking a two-day extension to respond to the summon.
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He claimed to have been out of the station when the notice was delivered to his residence, requesting additional time to make himself available for questioning.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said that 12 more people including journalists and RTI activists are like to be arrested in connection with the Rs 105 crore-State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) scam in Assam.
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CM Himanta Biswa Sarma disclosed that up to 12 individuals are now under the radar of the Chief Ministers’ Special Vigilance Cell (CM’s SVC).
It may be mentioned that earlier on Tuesday four persons including two journalists and two RTI activists were arrested in connection with the scam.
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As per sources, the two journalists were identified as Pujamoni Das and Bhaskar Jyoti Hazarika. The arrested RTI activists are Anup Saikia and Rabijit Gogoi.
They were accused of blackmailing suspended IAS officer Sewali Devi Sharma, the prime suspect in the case and gaining a huge sum of money from her.
The Chief Minister, expressing his concerns, highlighted that the investigation has uncovered a direct transfer of funds from the state treasury to the personal bank accounts of these journalists.
“There are around 12 people who have been found to be involved in the alleged SCERT scam. All of them are RTI activists and journalists by profession,” stated CM Sarma.
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The four arrested individuals have now been remanded to a 3-day police custody by the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Kamrup metro.
In a bid to further deepen the investigation, the CM’s SVC has summoned several other teachers from the District Institutes for Education and Training (DIET) for questioning and document verification.
These individuals are believed to have links to the SCERT scam, which has sent shockwaves through the education system in Assam.
The scam’s modus operandi revolves around fraudulent practices within the SCERT, which allegedly led to a staggering embezzlement of Rs 105 crore.
It may be mentioned that there are reports claiming that Pujamoni Das alias Honey Kashyap had taken more than Rs 1.5 crore Rs from Sewali Devi while the RTI activists had taken Rs 2 crore from her.
While there was not much info about the amounts taken by Bhaskarjyoti but some reports claimed that he too took money in cash but around Rs 4.1 lakh was transferred to his bank account.