Change of status of APS Sukanya Das from witness to accused warranted: Gauhati High Court

Cash-for-job scam

Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court said the change of status of scam-accused APS officer Sukanya Das from a witness to that of an accused for the purpose of facilitating further investigation against her is warranted.

The single-judge bench of Justice Mridul Kumar Kalita found 'no error or irregularity in the impugned order' dated January 17, 2024, by Special Judge, Assam, which allowed the prayer for the change of status of the present petitioner from a prosecution witness to an accused only in the interest of a proper and effective investigation. The instant petition by Sukanya Das challenging the impugned order was, therefore, dismissed.

During the hearing of the case (Crl.Pet./334/2024), A. M. Bora, the counsel for the petitioner, pointed out that in the instant case, neither there is a police report against her under Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, nor the Court has exercised its powers under Section 319 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Hence, it was prayed that the impugned order is liable to be set aside.

On the other hand, B. Bhuyan, the Additional Public Prosecutor, submitted a report dated April 7, 2024, filed by the Investigating Officer of the case and stated that the criminal petition filed by the petitioner and the submissions made by the senior counsel for the petitioner are premature, as in the instant case, the further investigation against the present petitioner is yet to conclude and the police report under Section 173(8) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, is yet to be filed.

The judge, after hearing both parties, stated that there is nothing in the impugned order that shows that the Special Judge has taken cognizance of offence under Section 5 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against the present petitioner for the purpose of trial against her; it has merely changed the status of the petitioner from a witness to that of an accused in the light of the materials revealed. He also ruled that it is only a matter of propriety for the investigating officer to treat the present petitioner as an accused during the course of further investigation,as per his petition on January 11, 2024.

For these reasons, the court "finds no error or irregularity in the impugned order passed by the learned Special Judge, Assam. Hence, this criminal petition is hereby dismissed," it was ruled.

Sukanya Das was a candidate in the Combined Competitive Examination 2013 conducted by APSC, and she was selected for the post of Assam Police Service (Jr. Grade). During the investigation, the former IO recovered various answer scripts with her handwriting from the residence of accused Rakesh Kr. Paul, who was the then chairman of the APSC.

 Also Read: APS officer Sukanya Das arrested for Assam Public Service Commission job scam (sentinelassam.com)

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