GUWAHATI: An additional superintendent of police (ASP), who is probing the cash-for-jobs scam in the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC), has received death threats.
The police have registered a case. APSC chairman Rakesh Kumar Paul and its member Samedur Rahman were among half a dozen people arrested by the police in the case. They are languishing in jail.
ASP Surjeet Singh Panesar, who is posted in eastern Assam’s Dibrugarh, was threatened through a phone call and a text message by the miscreants on February 11.
The text message read: “You are trying to become a hero by probing the APSC scam. We will see you”.
Panesar was not available for comments but the state’s Director General of Police, Mukesh Sahay, told Express that a case had been registered and an investigation was on.
“These are unknown numbers. We don’t get jittery by such things as these are professional hazards,” Sahay said.
“We know how to navigate through them. We have taken action both security wise and launched an investigation. Any attempt to derail the investigation will not succeed. Investigation will be carried out fearlessly and impartially,” he summed up.
The job racket in the APSC had come to light last year following the arrest of one Nabakanta Patir, an assistant engineer in the department of town and country planning in Dibrugarh.
He was caught red-handed accepting bribes of `10 lakh from a woman dentist. He had approached her promising a job through the APSC and demanded the money. She had then tipped off the police leading to his arrest. During investigation, it emerged that he used to approach candidates in the sale of the plum jobs at the behest of the APSC chairman.