Assam Police arrests 5 men from UP for stealing from CM Sonowal's Relief Fund

Guwahati: A team of Assam Police led by Rosie Kalita, the SP of the Asaef Minister's Special Vigilance Cell, apprehended 5 persons from Uttar Pradesh for stealing from the CM's Relief Fund. The accused have been identified as Muhammad Arif, Mohammad Asif, Salji, Sarvesh Rao, and Ravindra Kumar.

"During interrogation, they have admitted to having committed the offence and also said that they had committed the same from other states but only recently they tried this from the state of Assam starting with the withdrawal of very less amounts. They are forwarded to the Hon'ble Special Court today and brought on police remand for 10 days," said an official release.

The Assam Chief Minister's Office on August 10 detected some unusual transactions in the Chief Minister's Relief Fund based on which operations to nab the culprits were launched.

"Some unusual transactions were detected by the Chief Minister's Office, and CM Sonowal tasked me with digging into the situation. On August 27, a 7-member team of Assam Police conducted operations in Basti, Gorakhpur, as well as Lucknow," said Kalita, adding that the accused will be arrested and brought for a 10-day remand. "We will then interrogate these crooks thoroughly", she said.

Kalita said that the crooks, aged between 25-35, had not only stolen from Assam, but also from other states. "All states need to be alerted that these crooks are always on the lookout for lapses. Thus, the states need to keep checking their accounts on a regular basis. As far as Assam is concerned, the Chief Minister has made it abundantly clear that not a single penny meant for the poor is to be given to crooks."

Stating that only a few transactions had been completed by the miscreants, Kalita added, "In one transaction, they stole Rs. 80,000, while in another transaction, they stole Rs. 2,50,000. However, the amount is not a big deal. The concerning thing is that these people had forged the signature of the State's Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, made cheques, and withdrawn the amounts."

"They had stolen funds from the Assam Chief Minister's Relief Fund and transferred the stolen funds to their own accounts in the Punjab National Bank and the Indian Bank," Kalita said.

Meanwhile, the State Bank of India has refunded the money that was fraudulently withdrawn from the Assam Chief Minister's Relief Fund as "there were faults on their part."

The investigation of the Vigilance Police Station Case No. 04/2020 u/s 120b/406 409/419/420/468 ipc r/w sEC 12 (2) Prevention of Corruption Act, 2018 is on.

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