Senior bureaucrat arrested for corruption in Assam

A senior Assam Civil Service (ACS) officer, Anjanabh Chaliha, serving as District Development Commissioner in Golaghat District, was on Saturday arrested from his residence by the Assam Police for fraudulently withdrawing government funds to the tune of crores of rupees.

The accused, allegedly devised a plan with Prabhat Kalita, the former chairman of Sadhana Jati Development Council.

Under the plan, Chaliha, the accused, was made an authorized signatory to one of the government bank accounts.

The mentioned account is being maintained by the Deputy Commissioner of Jorhat and Chaliha was not given any authority by the former to be authorized signatory of the account.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by Rintu Goswami, a senior advocate, against the corrupt official last year.

Subsequently, Virendra Mittal, Deputy Commissioner, lodged an FIR yesterday and a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against the two accused.

The Jorhat Police with the help of Golaghat Police conducted a raid in the wee hours of Saturday and arrested Chaliha.

He was brought to Jorhat this evening by the police and was later produced before the district Magistrate. Kalita has been absconding since the filing of the case.