A court in Guwahati on Wednesday gave the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) custody of former Deputy Inspector General of Assam police Prasanta Kumar Dutta for six days.
The retired DIG, one of the prime accused in the leaking of question papers for appointing 597 unarmed sub inspectors, was arrested by the West Bengal police from Kakarbhitta on the India-Nepal border on Tuesday.
The CID had sought a week’s custody but the court of the chief judicial magistrate prescribed six days. The court also directed the CID to check Mr. Dutta’s health at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital before interrogation.
The former DIG had tested negative for COVID-19 hours after a police team that fetched him from northern West Bengal on Tuesday night. The police, however, told the court that he was suffering from high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiac problem.
Jobs for cash
Mr. Dutta and suspended Bharatiya Janata Party leader Diban Deka had allegedly assured jobs to many candidates for cash.
Handwritten copies of the leaked question paper were given to 50 job aspirants who sat for the “written test” at a guesthouse in Guwahati on September 19, a day ahead of schedule.
Some 66,000 candidates had started answering the questions on the scheduled date when the exam was questioned following a social media upload of the leaked question paper.
The “recruitment scam” saw retired IPS officer Deepak Kumar quit as the chairman of the State Level Police Recruitment Board, which later rescheduled the date for the written test to November 22.
At least 24 people, including the former DIG and the BJP leader have been arrested for the question paper leak.
