APDCL exam fiasco: Ten arrested; prime accused not found

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: After the arrest of ten people, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recommended the cancellation of the APDCL (Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd) recruitment examinations.

The Chief Minister said, "As many as 278 candidates frequently contacted the ten arrested persons. The investigators also recovered the answer keys from the house of one of the ten arrested persons.

"Gauhati University (GU) took the service of the very agency which the APDCL had used while conducting the recruitment examinations."

The Chief Minister's Special Vigilance Cell arrested the ten last evening.

The APDCL conducted the recruitment examinations for the posts office-cum-field assistants, sahayaks and light vehicle drivers on February 17, 2019, and April 28, 2019, with the help of a third party, NEICOM. There were allegations of anomalies in holding the examinations from various quarters. The allegations prompted the State Government to constitute an inquiry commission with Justice (retd) Anima Hazarika. Justice (retd) Hazarika recommended the authorities involve a third party to evaluate the answer scripts.

In August 2021, the APDCL had a meeting with Gauhati University. As per the decision, GU formed an external examination cell for the evaluation of the answer scripts. On August 24, 2021, APDCL handed over 1.80 lakh answered OMR sheets to GU for evaluation.

According to sources, GU also took the help of NEICOM for the evaluation process. Some of the candidates, according to sources, had frequent contact with the ten arrested persons to qualify the written examination through the exchange of money, at the rate of Rs 3 lakh per candidate. The ten arrested people also asked the candidates who had contacted them to bring more candidates.

On September 15, 2021, the Chief Minister's Secretariat informed the Chief Minister's Special Vigilance Cell that there were irregularities in the recruitment process of the APDCL.

The CM's Special Vigilance Cell registered a case 04/2021 u/s 120B/420/468/471 IPC, r/w Section 7/13(b) of PC (Amendment) Act, 2014 on Friday when they arrested the ten.

They arrested people are Dipankar Dihingia, OSD to APDCL Chairman; Sasanka Saikia, LDA, GU; Tridip Sarma, a person of Expedia ESolutions outsourced by GU; Babilon Kakati, private security of GU; and six employees of NEICOM – Dulumoni Deka, Farha Alam, Jayanta Deka, Kankan Sarma, Kaushik Das, and Biswajit Barman.

The investigators did not find one of the prime accused, Ataur Rahman, CGM, APDCL.

The investigators recovered the answer key and OMR sheets from the house of Dipankar Dihingia.

The investigators produced the ten before the CJM court that sent them to two-day judicial custody. On Monday, they will produce the ten before the special court.

Also Read: APDCL 2019 Exam to be Conducted Again: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

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