ASSAM: RP SHARMA DEMANDS CBI PROBE INTO APSC CASH-FOR-JOBS SCAM

19 July 2018:

Claiming that the investigation into the multi-crore rupees cash-for-jobs scam in the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) was not fair, Tezpur MP RP Sharma on Thursday demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the case.

He raised the demand a day after his daughter, Pallavi, and 18 other officers of Assam’s civil administration and the police were arrested by the Dibrugarh Police in connection with the scam.

“The contents of police case diary are always classified. The matters shouldn’t be shared with others. However, the Dibrugarh Police are leaking the details to the media. As such, I feel that a CBI inquiry will be fair,” Sharma told reporters.

He alleged that the arrest of his daughter was part of a greater political conspiracy against him.

“It’s a big political conspiracy. It has been hatched to ensure that I am not issued ticket for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. I am being targeted for the past two years. There are two-three conspirators within. One is a legal advisor to the Chief Minister,” he alleged.

He claimed that his daughter could not be guilty. “The 19 officers were arrested following a handwriting test. There was nothing wrong with the handwriting of my daughter. A person should be arrested only if his or her handwriting taken in the test yesterday (Wednesday) had not matched with that of his or her handwriting in the APSC exam,” Sharma categorically stated.

The 19 officers arrested on Wednesday were recruited through the APSC in 2016. Sharma’s daughter was serving as a probationer deputy superintendent of police in Sivasagar.

On Wednesday, RTI activist and leader of peasants’ body Krishak Mukti Sangram Samitee, Akhil Gogoi, had demanded a CBI probe into the scam.