Assam: Cachar Panchayat Secretary arrested on charges of corruption a day before retirement

Just a day before retiring, a Panchayat Secretary in the Cachar district of Assam was reportedly arrested for allegedly embezzling public funds.

According to the reports, the accused was taken into custody a day before his retirement on charges of corruption and embezzling government funds released for various developmental works by the Assam government’s Panchayat and Rural Development department and under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

The accused has been identified as Ratish Dhar, the Panchayat Secretary of Boali Chengjur Gram Panchayat of the Binnakandi Development Block in the Cachar district.

Ratish Dhar was taken into custody by the police from his home in Udharbond, according to information received. Based on a complaint submitted by the CEO of Cachar Zila Parishad, Lakhipur Police made the arrest.

The complaint mentioned that the accused Ratish Dhar was involved in corruption in several developmental works and also prepared fake geotags in the name of beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to embezzle massive amounts of government funds.

Based on the complaint, Ratish Dhar was arrested by the police last night. Meanwhile, the other two accused are still on the run. Notably, Ratish Dhar was supposed to retire from his position today (April 30) but was caught a day before his retirement.

A departmental inquiry was carried out in response to numerous complaints from the public, and the results indicated embezzlement. Based on the findings, Cachar Zila Parishad Chief Executive Officer Ranjit Kumar Laskar had filed a complaint at the Lakhipur Police Station against Panchayat Secretary Ratish Dhar and two others namely, Gram Rojgar Sevak (GRS) Amritlal Gupta and GRS Kripa Sindhu Gupta on charges of misappropriation of government funds.