BJP Leader Says He Had Fled Assam 'Fearing for Life' After His Name Props up in Police Exam Paper Leak Case

Senior Assam BJP leader Diban Deka, whose name has cropped up in the police recruitment question paper leak scam, on Thursday said he has "fled the state" as he is afraid of being killed anytime as "many big and corrupt officials" of Assam Police are involved in the nexus against him. Deka, who identifies himself as the national executive member of BJP's Kisan Morcha, is among those whose who have been interrogated by Assam police CID and the crime branch of Guwahati police.

The crime branch and the CID have conducted marathon raids in the residence of P K Dutta, an ex-DIG and in many hotels owned by his family and several other places in and around the state capital. Three persons, including a woman employee of the state government, have been arrested and five others, one from the Special Task Force (STF), have been detained in connection with the leaking of the question paper for unarmed police sub-inspector's post, officials said on Wednesday.

In a post in the social media Deka, who was an employee of the now-defunct Sharada group of the multi crore rupees Ponzi scheme scam, said he is connected with the company which got the contract to conduct the examination andhas "fled the state fearing for his life". "I have been in BJP for the last 24 years and will never put the party and the government in any problem. I got the question paper at 11:28 am on September 20 on my WhatsApp and immediately informed Pradeep Kumar sir through Gautam Mech," he said.

The examination was scheduled to begin at 12 pm on September 20. "Many big people are involved in the nexus of the AssamPolice which leaked the paper. Many corrupt Assam Police officers are also involved in it. One of them was even associated with the secret killings," he claimed.

Deka, however, did not say who Mech was or elaborate which secret killing he was referring to. Pradeep Kumar, the chairman of the State Level Police Recruitment Board (SLPRB), which is responsible for the recruitment of all non-gazetted posts of Assam Police, had said on September 20 that he had received the leaked question paper on his WhatsApp account at around 11:50 am.

Deka denied owning any printing press where the question papers were printed and said that "a small person"like him can be killed anytime. This was why he has "fled the state and has taken shelter in another state," he said. "When the situation normalises, I will explain everything in detail to the media. I request the Assamgovernment to take responsibility for my family's safety," he added.

The crime branch personnel began their probe on Thursday morning at a hotel owned by Swapna Dutta, the wife of the ex-DIG, while CID sleuths had searched their residence atHengerabari are here through the night. Raids by the investigators at Dutta's residence began again on Thursday afternoon.

While the CID and the crime branch are tight-lipped about their findings, sources claim that Dutta is absconding and around 5 kg of gold have been seized from his house in the overnight raid. When grilled by the media, the manager of the hotel which was raided this morning confessed that it is owned by Swapna Dutta and the CCTVs installed in it are not working.

A crime branch official present at the hotel premises said, "We are conducting raids. We have found discrepancies in their (hotel's) register of guests. Their CCTVs are also notworking". On Wednesday night the CID had searched three other luxury hotels reportedly owned by Dutta and his relatives.

The sleuths have also raided a lodge, where a mock test with the leaked question paper allegedly took place a day before the scheduled examination and around 50 candidates appeared for it. Of the three arrested, one was apprehended by the CIDand the rest by the crime branch of the city police.

Meanwhile, the SLPRB chairman has denied the allegation that his wife had set the question papers of the examination. "The examination was conducted by the SLPRB itself. We had outsourced the physical test and computer knowledge toKeltron (Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation),but they were yet to take over," he added.

The question paper for the written examination for 597posts of sub-inspector of Assam Police was leaked on September 20 and the authorities had cancelled the test minutes after it commenced across the state on that day. Around 66,000 candidates had appeared for the written tests in 154 centres spread over all the districts of Assam.

On September 12, the SLPRB chairman had issued a notice cautioning the candidates against touts after an audio clip promising a job in the sub-inspector;s post against payment of Rs 4 lakh in cash went viral. The Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had directed Kumar to conduct the examination again within a month and asked the director-general of police to identify the nexus behind the conspiracy and ensure strict punishment to the culprits as soon as possible.