Transport official held for ‘links’ with crime syndicate, 36L seized

Guwahati: The Assam Police on Thursday night arrested a transport department official in Kokrajhar for his alleged links with a crime syndicate and recovered Rs 36 lakh from his possession.
The accused has been identified by the police as Sameswar Brahma Muchahary, 54, the transport officer-in-charge of Kokrajhar, one of the four districts that come under the Bodoland Territorial Region.
A search was also conducted at his residence in Guwahati’s Kahilipara. Three other officials of the Kokrajhar district transport office were also detained for questioning in connection with the arrest of Muchahary.
GP Singh, special DGP (law and order), said, “On the basis of a secret intimation, a case was registered against Muchahary and it was followed up with a raid on his residence.”
The police also seized objectionable documents from the possession of the accused.
In August, transport department official Debeswar Talukdar, who was arrested in a case of bribery by the vigilance wing in 2015, was sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment by the court of special judge (Assam).
Talukdar, who was a senior assistant in the department, was entrusted with the task of issuing an assurance letter for a road permit for a commercial passenger bus. He had demanded a bribe of Rs 38,000 from the complainant for issuing the letter. A charge sheet was filed against him in April 2018.
On Wednesday, a circle inspector and an armed branch constable were arrested on bribery charges in Assam’s Darrang district. They were caught red-handed by the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption while accepting Rs 10,000 from the complainant for providing relief to the complainant’s family member in a criminal case.
The arrested accused were circle inspector Achyut Dutta and constable Diganta Boruah, who was engaged as Dutta’s PSO. The vigilance wing has arrested more than 40 government officials, including police officers, since May last year after Himanta Biswa Sarma became the CM.