Guwahati: The Chief Minister’s Special Vigilance Cell on Friday submitted a comprehensive charge sheet before a special court in connection with the Rs 105 crore State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) scam in Assam.
The charge sheet comprising of 1,433 pages describes the activities carried out by 21 individuals involved in the scam.
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Suspended IAS officer Sewali Devi Sharma, along with six other government officials were named as accused in the charge sheet.
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Five contractors with journalists and RTI activists were also named for their alleged involvement in the scam.
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The court further granted permission for a departmental inquiry to be conducted into the roles played by the six government employees.
While the case has been one of the most discussed cases in Assam, it got more attention after two journalists were arrested in connection with the case.
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The Chief Minister’s Special Vigilance Cell in May arrested four more persons including the two journalists from Guwahati in connection with the case.
The two journalists were identified as Pujamoni Das alias Honey Kashyap and Bhaskar Jyoti Hazarika. The arrested RTI activists are Anup Saikia and Rabijit Gogoi.
Suspended IAS officer Sewali Devi Sharma was arrested by the CM’s vigilance cell from Rajasthan.
She was arrested along with her son-in-law Ajit Pal Singh.
Earlier, Sewali Devi was questioned by the chief minister’s special vigilance cell, Assam in connection with the ‘scam’.
The suspended IAS officer along with her son-in-law allegedly embezzled Rs 105 crore without showing any work orders.
The alleged scam took place during her tenure as executive chairman and director of the state council of educational research and training (SCERT), Assam between 2017 and 2020.
Notably, she also opened as many as five bank accounts without the consent of the Assam government.