GUWAHATI, April 10 - Investigators of the Chief Minister�s Vigilance Cell today conducted a search in the office of the Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) here for the second time in the last one week in connection with the multi-crore-rupee scam related to misutlisation of funds in the name of publication/display of government advertisements during the erstwhile Congress regime.
A team of investigators today visited the DIPR office located at the Last Gate area and continued searches for several hours and questioned officials at the office.
Sources informed that the advertising agencies which were awarded the publicity works under its campaign �Vision Assam Mission Assam� are under the scanner of the investigators and their owners would soon be grilled.
�Such misutilisation of government funds could not have taken place without the connivance of those at the helm of affairs. The role and involvement of DIPR director Ranjit Gogoi and other officials are being probed,� sources pointed out.
Allegations about Gogoi awarding works to firms to people close to him without following the prescribed guidelines are being probed.
The scam allegedly took place during the end of the third term of the Congress government that had launched the publicity campaign. �The total cost of the works allotted was over Rs 30 crore. However, as per the allegation and primary findings, a lion�s share of the total amount was grossly misutilised,� sources claimed.
