GUWAHATI: Rajarshi Sen Deka, an accused in the multi-crore rupees cash-for-jobs scam in the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) and son of former Assam Congress agriculture minister Nilamoni Sen Deka, was arrested after he surrendered in Guwahati on Monday morning.
He had gone into hiding in the wake of the arrest spree of officers of Assam’s civil administration and police who had secured the plum jobs allegedly by bribing arrested former APSC chairman Rakesh Kumar Paul, who is now languishing in jail.
Police told The New Indian Express that they will seek Deka’s remand after producing him in court. He was working as a circle officer in Lower Assam’s Baksa district.
According to media reports, his father Nilamoni has fallen sick in the wake of the police crackdown. During his tenure as a minister, he too was accused of misappropriating funds to the tune of several hundred crores of rupees from Assam Public Works.
Dibrugarh Police had earlier prepared a list of 25 officers of civil administration and police in connection with the APSC scam. Of them, 22 have been arrested over the past six days while three others, including two women, are absconding. One of them, mother of a two-month-old, is hiding outside the state. Police have appealed to the trio to surrender.
The state’s Director General of Police, Mukesh Sahay, said, “The investigation into the case is being carried out based on leads and evidence. Nobody, including ministers, MLAs and politicians, will be spared if they were found to have played a role in the scam.”
He added that the probe into the scam would not conclude even after the arrest of the remaining three officers, and that police would also go after the in the sale of the lucrative jobs.