3 min readGuwahatiJul 23, 2024 07:13 AM IST
First published on: Jul 23, 2024 at 04:00 AM IST
A Special Court on Monday convicted former Assam Public Service Commission (APCS) chairman Rakesh Kumar Paul and two ex-members in the 2015 cash-for-jobs scandal linked to the recruitment of Agriculture Development Officers (ADOs) in the state. It also convicted 29 ADOs who were appointed by the commission in a fraudulent manner, but acquitted 11 other accused for lack of evidence.
Special Judge Dipankar Thakuria said it was established that the APSC officials, in conspiracy with the fraudulently selected candidates, had “cheated genuine candidates in particular and the Government in general”. The court, however, did not lay down the quantum of sentence and said it would do so after hearing the convicts on the question of sentencing under section 235 (2) of the CrPC.
The convicts were remanded in judicial custody and taken to Guwahati Central Jail.
The scandal, related to the recruitment for 80 ADOs, first came to light in 2017 when a candidate who was not selected, Bedanta Bikash Das, filed a complaint at the Bhangagarh police station in Guwahati. In the FIR, Das alleged he had passed the screening test and appeared for the viva-voce but was asked for a bribe of Rs 15 lakh from Paul and an associate. He claimed he had paid Rs 50,000 as “advance” but was unable to pay the rest.
According to the FIR, Das alleged he had filed an RTI request about his viva-voce marks and found that a candidate who had been selected, Mrigen Haloi, was shown to have received different marks in different documents.
While Das, in his complaint, had named only Paul, Haloi and an APSC employee, Mosaraf Hussain, during the course of the investigation, the number of accused rose to 44. These included former APSC members Samedur Rahman, Basanta Kumar Doley and Binita Rynjha, 35 other ADOs and three middlemen.
Rynjha later turned approver and told the court she had been pressured by the other accused APSC members and chairman Paul to manipulate marks in return for money and gifts.
While Paul, Rahman and Doley were convicted under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and multiple sections of the IPC, including cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, the 29 ADOs were convicted for cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy.
In his judgment, Special Judge Thakuria observed that it has been established by the prosecution that Paul, Rahman, Doley and Rynjha had “cheated genuine candidates in particular and the Government in general, and also forged Tabulation sheets maintained by them”.
“By increasing marks in the tabulation sheets they gave wrongful gain to the accused candidates and by reducing marks they caused wrongful loss to some genuine candidates,” the court said.
In the FIR, Das alleged he had passed the screening test and appeared for the viva-voce but was asked for a bribe of Rs 15 lakh from Paul and an associate (File hoto)_ 
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