HC grants bail to ACS officer accused in APSC cash-for-jobs scam | Guwahati News - Times of India

Source: The Times of India

Guwahati: The Gauhati HC has granted bail to a now suspended ACS officer, who was arrested last November for the 2013-14 Assam Public Service Commission cash-for-jobs scam, on the grounds that the provisions of CrPC related to the arrest were not complied with before her detention.

Hearing the bail plea of ACS officer Rakesh Das, the single-judge bench of Justice Robin Phukan observed the non-compliance of the provisions before the arrest of the accused.

Das had moved the bail ple in connection with a case registered under various charges of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act) and the IPC on the basis of an FIR lodged by Anshumita Gogoi in October 2016. Gogoi had alleged that one Nabakanta Patir had contacted her and asked her to pay Rs 10 lakh for selecting her for the post of dental surgeon during the recruitment conducted by APSC and when she came to Dibrugarh to hand over the amount, police caught him red-handed.

The allegation against Das was that in the Combined Competitive Examination 2013, he had allegedly used illegal means to increase his marks by inserting fake answer scripts. The counsel appearing for Das submitted that at the time of arrest of the accused, the investigating officer did not give him any notice as mandated in CrPC and as held by the Supreme Court.

It was also argued that two co-accused have already been granted bail by the HC and, therefore, maintaining parity with the said accused persons, the applicant should also be granted bail. The court stated that admittedly, the provision under CrPC has not been complied with before arrest of the accused and the additional public prosecutor also apprised the court that the same was not complied with.