JORHAT, July 7 - RTI activists-cum-lawyers � Rintu Goswami and Gautam Borah � along with the general secretary of Gana Adhikar Sangram Samiti � a workers� organisation � Sanjay Krishna Tanti on Friday lambasted the State Government for �trying to shield� a senior IAS bureaucrat, now posted at the Chief Minister�s office, who is allegedly involved in several financial scams including the misappropriation of funds from the District Untied Fund.
Addressing media persons here today, Goswami alleged that the order issued by the Additional DGP (Law and Order) M Agarwal yesterday transferring five cases of alleged large-scale financial anomalies to the tune of several crores, which were registered in the Jorhat Police Station in the past two years, to the CID was aimed to �derail� the investigation process.
The order stated that cases have been transferred with immediate effect for �expeditious and thorough investigation.�
Goswami alleged that the aim of handing over the cases to CID at a time when the probes were �progressing in the right direction� and had led to the arrests of several persons including two former additional deputy commissioners of Jorhat, an employee of the DC�s office and two contractors, was to �protect� Solanki Vishal Vasant during whose tenure as the Jorhat Deputy Commissioner there were several scams with Solanki himself allegedly involved.
The cases were registered following lodging of FIRs by them (the lawyers and Tanti). Among the five cases handed over to the CID, in one case (case no: 1371/17) registered under Sections 420,406, 409 and 34 of the IPC last month, Solanki, now Secretary to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, is an accused.
Solanki is alleged to have got a building constructed in 2013 within the DC�s residential campus with funds from the Asian Development Bank (Rs 60 lakh) without obtaining the necessary government sanction and also committing of financial anomalies during the construction.
Solanki reportedly stayed in the building during his tenure instead of the official DC bungalow built during British rule as he reportedly found the bungalow not fit for accommodation due to safety concerns.
Raising questions over the timing and the manner in which the cases have been taken away from Jorhat Police, which was doing a �fair job�, by arresting several persons in the cases, Goswami, supported by Borah and Tanti, alleged that a lobby of bureaucrats involving IAS and IPS officers were attempting to influence the probes.
Goswami said that at a time when the CID has come under severe criticism for alleged lapses committed in probing scams in the Excise and Agriculture departments, where the names of several IAS officers have come up but have not been nailed , he feared that Solanki too will go scot free in CID�s investigation.
Stating that they will write to Sonowal, to allow an impartial and fair probe by withdrawing the order to hand over the five cases to CID, Goswami said the Chief Minister who always has been stating about taking a serious stand on corruption, should intervene and let �justice prevail�.
