Guwahati, July 23: Tura resident and former chairman of the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC), Rakesh Paul, is among 32 other accused who have been found guilty, on Monday, by a Special Court in connection with the illegal recruitment of Agriculture Development Officers (ADOs) in what has been dubbed Assam’s cash-for-jobs scam.
The Special Judge pronounced the judgement in connection with case no 5/2021 registered with Bhangagarh police station case No 159/2017.
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Among the 32 accused found guilty, four were members of the APSC, one was an APSC employee, three middlemen and 36 ADOs.
Three middlemen- Vikash Pincha, Kunal Das, and Kaushik Kalita were acquitted by the court along with APSC employee Syed Musharraf Hussain.
Seven other officers (candidates) Beauty Gogoi, Phiruj Moran, Jyotiban Dutta, Saijali Johori, Dhritiman Roy, Mousumi Saikia, Boichitra Hakmaosa were also acquitted by the court.
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Apart from Rakesh Kr Paul, those who are convicted are Basanta kr Doley, Samedur Rahman and 29 other candidates.
One member Binata Rynjha 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.
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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.
Who was Rakesh Paul of Tura
Rakesh Paul shot to fame after his appointment as the chairman of the high profile Assam State Public Commission. Though hailing from Garo Hills, he shuttled between Guwahati and Tura where he owned a house in the heart of Tura’s main market zone.
He became infamous when the multi-crore cash-for-jobs scam unfolded in Assam during his tenure as the APSC chairman. When the CBI took over the case they raided three houses belonging to Rakesh Paul in Guwahati and another in Tura.
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By the time he was thrown into prison as the corruption trial began, his net value was estimated to be a whooping Rs. 100 to 150 crores.
He is alleged to have acquired 22 properties, including residential flats and plots of land, in various places including Guwahati and Kolkata. The huge number of properties is alleged to have been acquired from bribe money charged from candidates who were selected for different jobs by the APSC during his tenure as its head.
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