Guwahati, March 29: Former Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) chairman Rakesh Paul walked out of prison on Tuesday after six long years of imprisonment.
The development came after a special judge’s court on March 24 agreed to grant him bail in connection with a case registered by Bhangagarh police in Guwahati on charges that he received Rs 50,000 bribe from a candidate to get appointed as an agriculture development officer.
“I had a good experience inside jail and worked on several social and religious cases. The case against me is subjudice at the moment and the court has set certain conditions for my release,” Paul commented after his release.
Paul was arrested in November 2016 when the APSC cash-for-job scam had come to light. Reportedly, many successful candidates who appeared in the Combined Competitive Examination 2013 were alleged to have indulged in irregular practices in cahoots with Paul, the then APSC chairman.
Following the revelations, police lodged several cases and arrested 60 serving officers from the CCE, 2013 batch.
As the chairman of APSC, the Enforcement Directorate slapped criminal charges against Paul on the basis of a state police FIR that revealed the alleged irregularities related to recruitment of the candidates.
Moreover, the state government in the last week told the assembly that 57 civil servants from the 2013, 2015 and 2016 batches who were arrested in the recruitment scandal have been dismissed from service while three accused officers and three APSC officials had turned approvers.
In December last year, Rakesh Paul’s bail plea was rejected for the seventh time by the special judge’s court in the cash-for-job scam. However, later it was revealed that Paul had been granted bail in connection with three other case against him.
