Assam government suspends senior officer for alleged bribery

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. (Source: PTI/file)

The BJP-led government of Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday in Guwahati placed under suspension Binod Kumar Deka, a senior Assam Civil Service (ACS) officer serving as deputy commissioner of Chirang district following allegations of demanding and accepting bribe from a contractor of the district earlier this month.

The order came as per directive of chief minister Sonowal himself, with a press release issued by the CM’s office saying Deka was placed under suspension on the basis of an inquiry report of the director of vigilance and anti-corruption department.

“The government of Assam has adopted a zero-tolerance attitude against corruption. No corrupt official will be spared at any cost and the government will continue its fight against corruption in a more vigorous way in the days to come,” the statement quoting chief minister Sonowal said. He also termed corruption as a major deterrent to effective implementation of government schemes.

Deka, a senior ACS officer who had taken over as deputy commissioner of Chirang district, had allegedly demanded a sum of Rs 6 lakh from a contractor, and was earlier this month seen in a video allegedly receiving Rs 30,000 in cash. While the chief minister immediately ordered an inquiry by the vigilance and anti-corruption department, Deka was placed under suspension following its report.

Earlier this month, the BJP-led government had dismissed from service three ACS officers after inquiry reports confirmed that they were selected for the Assam Civil Service through fraudulent means. Three separate discharge orders issued by the personnel department of the Assam government stated that the officers were “unfit for being a member of the Service.”

Inquiry into a massive scandal in the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) initiated by the Sonowal government had led to discovery of answer scripts of the three officers – Bhaskar Dutta Das, Amrit Jyoti Sarma and Bhaskar Chandra Deva Sarma – in the residence of APSC chairman Rakesh Kumar Paul, who is currently in jail.