The Chief Minister’s Special Vigilance Cell on Friday submitted the complete charge sheet in the massive State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) scam.
The complete charge sheet of a total of 1,433 pages was filed after 87 days by the CM Vigilance Cell at a special court.
As per the charge sheet as many as 21 people have been named as accused. The 21 convicts include six government employees including IAS Shewali Devi and 10 people including five contractors, journalists and RTI activists.
A departmental inquiry has also been announced against six government employees. The Rs 105 crore scam took place when Sewali Deshi Sharma was the Director of SCIRT. The scam was led by Shewali Devi Sharma and her contractor son-in-law.
Shewali Devi Sharma was arrested by the CM’s vigilance team from a hotel in Rajasthan after the scam came to light. She was arrested along with two others, including her son-in-law. The victim’s daughter, was also arrested and sent to jail.
Shewali Devi Sharma was questioned and it came to light how leaders of various parties, organizations and journalists were involved in the scam.
The CM Vigilance arrested journalists Pooja Mani Das, Bhaskarjyoti Hazarika, RTI activist Rabijit Gogoi and Anup Shaikia on the basis of information provided by Shewali Devi Sharma.
The special judge’s court earlier this month denied bail to all six accused in connection to the Rs 105 crore SCERT scam in Assam. The accused individuals, namely Hunmoni Nath, Bhaskar Hazarika, Manoj Das, David Adhikary, Benin Doley, and Rajesh Kumar Joshi, had sought bail but were rejected by the court.
Continuing their investigation, the CM vigilance cell was interrogating a journalist, identified as Pujamoni Das, and it was found that several lakhs of rupees were deposited in her mother’s bank account, sources said.
The cell was also questioning a close acquaintance of Rabijit Gogoi, identified as Maina Saikia alias Anup Saikia. Gogoi, an RTI employee was earlier summoned at the vigilance cell office and evidences of him demanding money from Sewali was recovered from his mobile phone. The cell then seized two mobile phones and an identity card of a news agency from his possession.