Rakesh Paul, former Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) chairman has been sentenced to 14 years in jail in the APSC cash-for-job scam.
Pal has been sentenced to 14 years in jail with a fine of Rs 2 lakh while Basanta Kumar Doley and Samedur Rahman have been sentenced to 10 years in jail respectively and a fine of Rs 50,000.
Meanwhile, rest of the accused (29 candidates) have been sentenced to 4 years of jail term with a fine of Rs 10,000.
It had on July 22 convicted 32 people, including former Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) chairman Rakesh Paul, in connection with the case filed at the Bhangagarh police station in 2017 under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The court had observed that the quantum of punishment would be pronounced after hearing all the convicts.
Judge Thakuria had acquitted 11 other accused for lack of evidence, while APSC member Binita Rynjha turned approver.
There were 44 accused in the case, including four members and an employee of the commission, three middlemen and 36 candidates.
The scam first came to light in 2015-2016, exposing that candidates allegedly paid bribes to secure positions in the combined competitive exams in 2013 and 2014.
After examination of the handwriting samples, it was found that their answer sheets were replaced by duplicate answer sheets at the behest of the then APSC chairman Rakesh Paul, the kingpin of the massive scam.
The tainted former APSC chairman had supplied answer scripts to rewrite their examination.
Rakesh Paul was arrested in 2016 on several charges of corruption relating to fraudulent hirings in APSC but was given bail in 2023.
In the scam, about 70 persons and over 50 civil and police services officials, have been arrested.
The APS and ACS officers who were appointed to their posts in 2016 include 13 ACS officers, 3 APS officers, 1 DTO, 1 tax superintendent and 1 tax inspector.
