GUWAHATI:
The Assam Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on June 6, staged a protest at Dighalupukhuri and submitted a memorandum to Governor Jagdish Mukhi demanding the removal of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his involvement in the alleged PPE kit scam. The party also lodged an FIR with Latasil Police Station, Uzanbazar, Guwahati, against Sarma, his family members and their business partners for their involvement in the scam.
The AAP’s memorandum to the Governor read, “AAP wants to draw your kind attention towards allegations of corruption against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his family. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the state government showed undue favour to some companies to procure PPE kits sanitisers and other health care equipment. Sarma placed orders for PPE kits and sanitisers at much higher rates from a firm where the directors were Sarma’s late father and wife.”
The memorandum, submitted through Kamrup Metro deputy commissioner Pallab Gopal Jha to the Governor, comes after a war of words between the Assam Chief Minister, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. The verbal spat had been over the procurement of PPE kit by both governments during the pandemic, and it had culminated in Sarma threatening to file a criminal defamation suit against Sisodia.
The memorandum also added, “AAP suspects that Sarma misused the constitutional power for the benefit of his family’s business. Therefore, it is a very serious matter. The AAP demands your good office to constitute an inquiry and probe into the matter. To avoid the inquiry getting influenced, chief minister Sarma should be removed from his post immediately.”
In its complain submitted to Latasil Police Station, the AAP asked the police to lodge an FIR against Sarma, his wife Riniki Byhuyan Sarma, Ghanashyam Dhanuka, Rajib Bora, officials of DDO (drawing and disbursing capacity), along with officials of National Health Mission (NHM) for criminal conspiracy to siphon off funds of the Assam government for their vested personal interests by giving supply order to some unqualified firms at an exorbitant rate.
The complaint has been lodged under sections 120(B), 420 and 406 of the Indian Panel Code (IPC) 1860 read with section (2.9A) of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition)Act, 1988 and section 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
“I request Assam Police to take cognisance of the crime of criminal misappropriation by a public servant, criminal breach of trust and corruption by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, his wife and owner of JCB Industries Riniki Bhuyan Sarma his son Nandil Biswa Sarma, Agile Associates owner Rajib Bora, GRD Pharmaceuticals and Meditime Healthcare owner Ghanashyam Dhanuka along with other unknown persons,” Victor Gogoi, state secretary of AAP, said in the complaint.
The memorandum also mentioned that a national online news media organisation along with Guwahati-based news portal had filed a bunch of RTI petitions whereby the National Health Mission Assam gave official government documentation that revealed widespread corruption, criminal misappropriation of public funds by engaging his family members and business partners of his family members in government business of procuring PPE kits and sanitisers at a highly inflated rate causing undue loss to public exchequers and resulting in unfair price rise of health safety garments and sanitisers in the state.