Assam: 3 FIRs against Prateek Hajela, pension halted till probe completed
GUWAHATI: Three FIRs, apart from a regular inquiry, have been registered against former state NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela in Paltanbazar police of Guwahati in connection with rs 262 crore scam in updating of the NRC in the state, Assam Assembly was informed on Monday.
Hajela’s pension was also stayed as the process for recovery of liabilities is on against him.
Replying to a starred question from Congress MLA Kamalakhya De Purkayastha during Question Hour of the House, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that the first case was registered on September 24, 2023 vice Paltanbazar police station case number 1099/23 under section 167 of IPC based on a complaint lodged by Pradip Kalita son of late Gauri Kalita of Lakhmi Nagar, Lord Enclave, Flate No 8, Dispur, stating that Hajela had intentionally cancelled the names of local people from NRC list despite receiving their legal data. The FIR also stated that many names of D-voters and foreigners were included in the final list of the NRC.
Also Read: Census records 11,689 water birds of 223 species in six Assam wetlands
The second case was registered by Paltanbazar police station on January 21, 2020, vide case number 160/2020 under section 468/471/188 of IPC read with section 65 of the Information Technology Act.
The case was registered based on a complaint lodged by Rajib Deka, son of Bhubaneswar Deka of 5(b) Subansiri Apartment RGB Road, Zoo Road, stating that Prateek Hajela had published the final NRC list on August 31, 2019 by disobeying the orders and directions of Supreme Court, which was tampered by making false document causing forgery of public register and after changing the public records by missing his powers and positions.
The third case was also registered by Paltaanbazar police station vide case number 658/2021 under section 120(B)/109/219/468/471 of IPC on July 20, 2021.
The case was \registered based on a complaint lodged by Abhijeet Sharma, son of late Dhaneswar Sharma, of 5B, Subansiri Apartment, Opposite Reliance Trends, Zoo road, stating that Prateek Hajela and his close associates had manipulated family tree verification during the NRC updating in collaboration with some officers with migrant background, data entry operator some majority lenders and also with some anti-elements.
Also Read: High population is Assam’s ‘disease’: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma
In addition to this, another case has been taken up a regular inquiry vide number 02(04)/2023 against Hajela based on a petition filed by Abhijeet Sharma of Assam Public Works (APW), who has filed the petition based on the audit report of Auditor General of India.
“Hajela has taken voluntary retirement from August 1, 2023. But this VRS will not affect departmental proceedings to be drawn against him due to regular inquiries ordered against him.
His pension has also been stayed as the process of recovery of liabilities is on against him,” Sarma said
In his reply, Sarma informed the House that the final NRC list is yet to be published and the Registrar General of India (RGI) is the supreme authority for publication of NRC under section 7 of The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
“Till now the Assam government has not filed any affidavit in the Supreme court for re-verification of NRC,” Sarma said.
The chief minister also said the Supreme Court in a directive blocked the Aadhaar of 26,52,784 persons who were added to the supplementary list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) published in August 2019.
“The matter was taken up with the central government. The Central government has issued an office memorandum to relieve the NRC rejects from Aadhaar enrolment,” the chief minister said.
He also added that the state has 96,987 D-Voters according to information provided by the Election Commission of India (ECI).