Citizenship being sold for Rs 10,000 in Assam; two arrested

GUWAHATI: Two public servants engaged in updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam have been arrested while allegedly taking bribe from a woman to enter her name unlawfully in the register.
48-year-old Syed Shahjahan, a field level officer of NRC Sewa Kendra of Dispur at Ganeshguri was caught red-handed by sleuths of the anti-corruption bureau of Assam Police this morning while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from complainant Kajari Ghosh Dutta of Ananda Nagar here.
Another person, Rahul Parasar (27 ), an assistant local registrar of citizen registration of the same NRC Sewa Kendra was also found to allegedly involved in the crime and has also been arrested, police said.
“All connected documents have also been seized by the ACB team from the office of the NRC Sewa Kendra. The accused had demanded a bribe of Rs 10,000 for entering the name of the complainant in the draft NRC. The accused had highlighted some technical defects in her application and demanded her the bribe to correct the technical defects and enter her name thereafter into the final draft of NRC,” the police said.
The complainant had approached the anti-corruption bureau and a trap was laid down as per the standard procedure. “The accused public servants have been arrested and will be produced before the special court on Friday morning,” police added.
The final NRC is scheduled to be published on July 31, and claims and objections are being heard at this moment.