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• Aug 29, 2023 | Guriya Khatun

Today, the special judge's court accepted the 11 accused defendants' request for bail. In exchange for Rs 50,000 each and two sureties...

Digital Desk: As many as 11 accused in the major State Council of Educational Research and Training scandal in Assam, which included 105 crore rupees, have been granted bail, reports said. 

According to sources, Anup Saikia, Bidyut Kalita, Manoj Das, Poojamoni Das, Rabijit Gogoi, Bening Doloi, Rajib Kakoty, Rubul Ali, Ramijjudin Ahmed, Rahul Amin, and Bejeta Sarma have had their bail pleas accepted.

Today, the special judge's court accepted the 11 accused defendants' request for bail. In exchange for Rs 50,000 each and two sureties, the suspects were reportedly granted bail.

On the other hand, reports also stated that two other suspects in the fraud were given interim bail today. Lakshminarayan Sonowal and Rajesh Kumar have been named as the persons.

As many as six suspects in the massive scam were granted bail earlier this month. Bhaskar Jyoti Hazarika, Keshab Gogoi, Sonmoni Nath, Joy Chandra Lakhar, David Adhikari, and Chareng Mor were among those who were given bail.

The Chief Minister's Special Vigilance Cell submitted the whole chargesheet for the scam in July of this year. The CM Vigilance Cell filed the 1,433 page chargesheet in its entirety at a special court after 87 days. Up to 21 people have been mentioned as accused in the chargesheet.

The Rs 105-crore SCERT fraud in Assam involves spending funds under the guise of providing a Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed.) course through the Open Distance Learning (ODL) system. The suspected financial irregularities occurred between 2017 and 2022.

According to the reports, Sewali Devi Sarma, the director-in-charge of SCERT who has been suspended, gave the majority of the contracts to her relatives, including her in-laws. More surprisingly, according to the sources, many of these companies' Goods and Services Tax (GST) numbers were fake.