In a significant disclosure to the Rs. 105 crore-State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) scam, Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday revealed the involvement of up to 12 people including RTI activists and journalists, who are now on the radar of the Chief Ministers’ Special Vigilance Cell.
The chief minister also said there was a direct transfer of funds from the state treasury to the personal bank accounts of the journalists.
Speaking to the media, CM Sarma said, “There are around 12 people who have been found to be involved in the alleged SCERT scam. All of them are RTI activists and journalists by profession. During the course of investigation, it has also come to light that there had been a direct transfer of funds from the government’s treasury to journalists’ personal bank accounts. Probably, one of them has a political background as being reported in the media.”
Meanwhile, all the four people who were previously arrested by the Chief Ministers’ Special Vigilance Cell (CM’s SVC) in connection to Rs 105 crore-State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) scam has been forwarded to 3-day police custody by the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Kamrup metro on Wednesday.
Those arrested by the CM Vigilance Cell included two journalists and two Right to Information Act (RTI) employees, whose names had popped up during the interrogation of prime suspect Sewali Devi Sharma in the case.
On the other hand, the names of several other teachers of the District Institutes for Education and Training (DIET) have also popped in the case.
According to initial inputs, all of them have been summoned by the CM’s SVC for an interrogation and other document verifications.
It is to be noted that there are around 23 DIET in the state.
