Guwahati: The Chief Minister’s Special Vigilance Cell on Tuesday arrested four more persons including two journalists from Guwahati in connection with the SCERT scam case.
As per sources, the two journalists were identified as Pujamoni Das and Bhaskar Jyoti Hazarika. The arrested RTI activists are Anup Saikia and Rabijit Gogoi.
They were accused of blackmailing suspended IAS officer Sewali Devi Sharma, the prime suspect in the case.
The IAS officer was arrested earlier for her alleged role in the SCERT ‘scam’.
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She was arrested along with her son-in-law Ajit Pal Singh, who was reportedly in hiding in Rajasthan.
The four persons who were arrested had allegedly blackmailed Sharma. They were given lakhs of rupees by Sharma and her associates to keep their mouths shut.
They took the money in both cash and via bank transfers.
It may be mentioned the suspended IAS officer along with her son-in-law allegedly embezzled Rs 105 crore without showing any work orders.
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The alleged scam reportedly took place during her stint 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 “official” bank accounts without the consent of the Assam government.