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GUWAHATI: The daughter of Assam BJP MP RP Sharma, was among 19 Assam government officers who were arrested on Wednesday in connection with a cash-for-job scam in the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC).

The Dibrugarh police had asked these officers to appear for a handwriting test after forensic reports pointed at anomalies in their answer scripts which were seized earlier. The arrests took place immediately after this. Sources said all of them will be produced in court on Thursday.

“They were arrested after sufficient evidence indicating forgery in their recruitment process. The forensic reports have proved that they had counterfeited the process. Some candidates were found to have submitted fake answer scripts more than once,” said Gautam Borah, SP (Dibrugarh).

The arrested include 13 Assam Civil Service (ACS) officers and three each from Assam Police Service and allied services. The ACS officers have been identified as Utpal Bhuyan, Barnali Das, Susovan Das, Dhruvojyoti Chakrab oty, Manzoor Ilahi Laskar, Moon Mazoomdar, Mustafa Ahmed Borbhuyan, Md Saibur Rahman Borbhuyan, Monika Teronpi, Ganesh Chandra Das, Srabanti Sen Gupta, Deepsikha Phukan and Leena Krishna Kakati. The three APS officers are Gulshan Daolagpu, Pallavi Sharma (daughter of RP Sharma) and Bhargav Phukan. The rest have been identified as Suranjita Hazarika, Rhituraj Neog and Nipon Kumar Pathak.

Sharma, who had earlier smelled a rat behind the inclusion of his daughter’s name among the accused, said several party insiders have targeted his daughter to malign his image ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. “The way police have been influenced by some of my rivals is horrendous,” said the BJP MP.

