GUWAHATI, May 31: Another accused in the alleged financial irregularities in Assam Fisheries Development Corporation Ltd has been apprehended in Odisha, marking the ninth arrest in the case, officials said on Sunday.
They said Padma Kanta Hazarika was apprehended in Puri on Saturday and will be brought to Guwahati on a transit remand, while raids were also conducted in his flats here.
“Ref. ACB PS Case No. 30/2023 registered in con with misappropriation of funds of Assam Fisheries Dev. Corporation Ltd. One key accused of the case namely Padma Kanta Hazarika, the then Project Director of the AFDCL has been arrested in Puri, Odisha by @DIR_VAC_ASSAM yesterday,” the Vigilance Department said in a post on X.
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“He was produced before the court in Puri last night by the team of @DIR_VAC_ASSAM and the court granted 4 days transit remand for bringing the accused person to Guwahati,” it added.
A statement from the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption here said raids were conducted in three flats belonging to Hazarika in Guwahati on Saturday.
All the flats are in the Hatigaon area of the city.
“A large number of incriminating documents, five seals of different organisations/councils and a bank note counting machine, among other items, were seized in connection with the case,” the statement added.
Last week, at least eight government officials, including two from the Assam Civil Services (ACS) cadre, were arrested in the same case in connection with financial irregularities, the Vigilance Department said on Tuesday.
The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), in a statement, had said that the arrests were made from multiple locations, including Guwahati, Belsor (Nalbari), Gauripur (Dhubri) and Raha (Nagaon).
Among those previously apprehended are ACS officers Anuradha Adhikary Sarma and Naren Chandra Basumatary, both former managing directors of the AFDCL, and two former executive engineers of the AFDCL — Jyotish Saikia and Birinchi Adhikary.
Other AFDCL employees — Jyoti Prasad Saikia (then assistant executive engineer), Saburuddin Ahmed (then assistant engineer), Bhogirath Das (then project manager) and Rabindra Narayan Deka (then assistant technical officer) — have also been arrested. (PTI)
