An Assam Civil Service officer, who is suspected to have secured her job with the help of Rakesh Kumar Paul when he was the chairman of Assam Public Service Commission (APSC), has offered to turn approver in the APSC cash-for-job scam.
Avisika Baruah, who had cleared the combined competitive examination conducted by the APSC for the year 2013-14 and is currently working as the circle officer at Nazira in Sivasagar district, intends to aid investigators, sources said.
“She is now repentant and intends to give her statement, telling the truth, on her own volition. She has made up her mind to assist the police by becoming an approver in this case,” the source said.
Dibrugarh police have already obtained permission from the special court, Assam, to record her statement in case number 936/2016 registered by it.
The case was registered by Dibrugarh police in October 2016, when a job aspirant, Anshumita Gogoi, lodged a complaint saying that Nabakanta Patir, an engineer, had offered her a government job through the APSC if she paid a bribe of Rs 10 lakh.
The police laid a trap and caught Patir red-handed accepting money from Anshumita. Based on Patir’s confession. Paul, the then APSC chairman, was arrested on November 4, 2016.
Subsequently, 29 officers of Assam Civil Service, Assam Police Service and allied services were arrested for allegedly securing their jobs through unfair means.
“Avisika expressed her willingness to turn approver after Dibrugarh police questioned her and also collected her handwriting specimen last month for forensic examination,” the source said.
The investigators had allegedly found discrepancies in her answer script, which was seized from the APSC office.
“She has also filed a petition in Gauhati High Court seeking pre-arrest bail, which is pending before the court,” the source said and added that the police were unlikely to oppose her plea.