Bhogdoi Outpost Sub Inspector arrested on corruption charge

From a Correspondent

JORHAT, Sept 10: Expectations are high among the people of Jorhat from the newly joined Superintendent of Police, Prasanta Kr Bhuyan who took charge on Friday. Allegations of corruption have been doing the rounds for the last two-and- half years because of which it was widely speculated that the former SP Amanjeet Kaur was transferred before time. Yet another incident of arrest of a Sub Inspector of the Bhogdoi Outpost on corruption charges on Saturday has created sensation in the district.

The latest incident involves the arrest of a SI identified as Ranjit Gogoi caught on charges of accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 allegedly to settle a case of dispute between the complaint Rajesh Paswan and the accused Dilip Kr Rajbangsi, an employee of the Jorhat based OIL station at Charigaon. Sources have informed that the accused Dilip Rajbangsi was pressurizing the SI not to take action in the case while the complaint Paswan maintained pressure to take action which was mainly based on physical assault.

On Saturday while SI Ranjit Gogoi came to Jorhat Sadar Police Station to discuss the case with the OC, accused Dilip Rajbangsi also arrived simultaneously and offered Rs 50,000 cash. Now it is not been clear whether the SI took the money or not but under mysterious circumstances, when the SI came out of the toilet, he found Additiol SP Santanu Dutta in front who ordered the PSOs for the SI’s full body check but found nothing. However, upon renewed searching found the bundle of the cash behind the toilet. This paved way for his arrest under Anti-corruption sections and he was formally arrested by a Deputy Superintendent of Police.

Today’s incident is a mere eye opener for the newly-joined Superintendent of Police but there are numerous such cases which go undetected, performed especially by some selected police officers in the rank of SI and TSI, who had in the last two years allegedly pocketed almost a crore each by manipulating and bending laws for their persol gains.

Notably, one Sub Inspector of the Jorhat district police force in recent time had to flee from the dock of an Additiol Chief Judicial Court during an ongoing hearing of a crimil case fearing arrest and later remained absconded for almost a month but senior police officials under the then SP Amanjeet Kaur refrained from arresting the SI despite non-bailable arrest warrant issued by the court with a copy to the DGP as well.

The same SI has now been offered a lucrative post for reasons best known to the senior officers. The SI along with his counterpart, who is coincidentally an alleged murder accused besides being involved in the case of a custodial death recently at Jorhat Police station, have, however, under mysterious condition maged to stay their orders of transfer to some interior outpost of the district. Somehow the two SIs remain glued to their position which is perhaps not possible without cash offering.

The aggrieved people of the district have kept their eyes focused on the new SP with an appeal for justice by reshuffling the district police and bring back the lost charm of the Jorhat Police by posting efficient and skilled policemen having enough expertise in dealing with cases of ULFA and vehicle thefts but have been forced to remain dormant with loose postings in the districts. A recent survey shows that more than 70 bikes thefts have been reported in the last three months, besides seven official and scores of other uninformed cases of ULFA (I) extortion in the district from businessmen, government officers and tea garden owners. The mystery behind the murder of a brilliant student Trishav Bordoloi still remains unsolved with allegation of an SI to have been involved in tempering of evidence from the PO site.