Assam: Suspended ACS officer, DFO & engineer arrested, sent to 5-day custody

GUWAHATI: A suspended Assam civil service (ACS) officer, a divisional forest officer (DFO) and a retired PWD engineer were arrested by the sleuths of the Chief Minister’s Special Vigilance Cell (SVC) on Thursday on three separate cases of disproportionate asset, police said here.

They have been identified as Sukanya Boraah (suspended ACS), retired PWD engineer Samed Ali and DFO Bhaskar Deka.

All three officers were produced before the court of the Special Judge here who remanded them to five-day custody of CM’s SVC for further investigation into the cases.

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The arrested suspended ACS officer was Sukanya Borah, former additional district commissioner (ADC) of Kamrup Metro district. She was suspended in March 2023 for irregularities in the implementation of projects under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) fund. 

In May, Borah's petition for anticipatory bail in connection with the case was turned down by the Gauhati High Court. 

Borah faces allegations of amassing properties beyond her known source of income, using the names of family members and relatives. 

During the investigation, it was revealed that Sukanya Borah's aunt accused her of framing her mother as mentally unstable to wrongfully acquire the amassed property. The properties in question include substantial holdings in Guwahati, Morigaon, Hajo, and North Guwahati, among other locations.

Also Read: Assam: Suspended ACS officer Sukanya Borah arrested in MPLAD scam

Notably, MPLAD scam, in which Sukanya Borah was involved, there are allegations of misappropriation of funds from Rajya Sabha MP Ajit Kumar Bhuyan’s MPLAD fund. The funds were designated for the construction of a road in Barpeta. However, it was revealed that the payment was approved before the completion of 75% of the road construction. Four suspended officers, including Sukanya Borah, were implicated in approving the payment prematurely.

Alongside Borah, the SVC also arrested retired PWD engineer Samed Ali and divisional forest officer (DFO) Bhaskar Deka, both of whom were uncooperative during the interrogation. 

Bhaskar Deka, then DFO of Nagaon Forest Division, was arrested in connection with case No 5/2022 under sections 13(1) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act registered by the CM’s vigilance Cell.

During the investigation, it was revealed that Deka along with his wife had earned Rs 4,11,43,591 but his expenditure was Rs 6,39,65,205. His lively savings (income- expenditure) was Rs 2,28,21,614 but he possessed assets to the tune of Rs 1,32,04,470.

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Deka possessed a disproportionate asset (DA) to the tune of Rs 3,60,16,084 against his known sources of income. The percentage of DA concerning income is 87.66 per cent. 

Samed Ali, who was an executive engineer in the PWD department, retired in 2022 after a long service in Karimganj. Samed has been accused of owning several properties illegally. 

The CM Vigilance team registered a case against Sameed Ali based on a complaint by an MLA, following which raids were carried out based on case No 9/2023 registered against him on December 15, last. 

During their raid at Samed’s residence in Guwahati’s Lalmati area, the team seized several bank passbooks and recovered several land documents. 

Samed owns many properties in the city, including his newly constructed residence in Sarumotoria, Beltola, and Zoo Road as well.