BJP MP's daughter among 19 arrested in Assam cash-for-job scam

GUWAHATI: Nineteen state government officers, including the daughter of BJP parliamentarian RP Sharma, have been arrested in connection with the cash-for-job scam in the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC).

They were arrested on Wednesday as their handwriting did not match with that in their answer sheets of the APSC examination held in 2016.

The Dibrugarh Police, which is probing the scam, had summoned the 19 officers - including Pallavi Sharma, daughter of the BJP MP from Tezpur - after forensic tests of their answer sheets indicated anomalies.


“It was found that these people committed fraud as the handwriting in the test and that in their answer sheets did not match, " a senior police official said.

The arrested include 13 officers of the Assam Civil Service, three from Assam Police Service and three of allied services.

Sharma alleged foul play saying,“There is a political conspiracy against me. The probe has been selective.”

The 19 officers were selected in the examination conducted by the APSC when Rakesh Pal was its chairman. Pal and two other members, Samedur Rahman and Basanta Kumar Doley, are already behind bars.

They are among the 34 people arrested earlier in the case, with Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal taking the clean-up of the APSC as his government's biggest achievement.