Cong demands probe into scams involving Himanta Sarma’s name

Stung by the CBI arrest of former chief minister Hiteswar Saikias son in an alleged loan default case, the Congress on Monday dared the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Assam government to order inquiry into alleged financial scams in which his name had been embroiled in the past.

Stung by the CBI arrest of former chief minister Hiteswar Saikia's son in an alleged loan default case, the Congress on Monday dared the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Assam government to order inquiry into alleged financial scams in which his name had been embroiled in the past. It also alleged that the ruling BJP has been indulging in politics of intimidation against its opponents to coerce them into joining the saffron party. "If Himanta Biswa Sarma has the courage, then let him order inquiry into Sharada scam, Louis Berger scandal, Dima Hasao money laundering cases and arrange CBI raids in the residence of the scam masters," Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhupen Kumar Borah said in a statement here. US firm Louis Berger had allegedly paid Rs six crore in 2010 to officials and politicians in Assam for the contract of a Rs 1,452 crore water supply project in Assam, while the Dima Hasao money laundering case involved alleged nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and militants in the Dima Hasao (erstwhile North Cachar Hills) in June 2009 in a Rs 1,000 crore swindle that took place over a period of ten years. Sarma, who was then a Congress minister in the state, was among those whose name had figured in these alleged financial scandals. He was also alleged to have taken money from Sudipta Sen, the main accused in the Saradha ponzi scheme scam in which thousands of innocent investors were swindled of their money kept in deposits with it. Sarma quit Congress in 2015 to join the saffrom camp and investigations into these scams are yet to be completed. Referring to the arrest of Ashok Saikia, son of former Assam chief minister Hiteswar Saikia, in a 25-year-old alleged loan default case, Borah said, "The political rivalry has taken the chief minister (Sarma) and the state government to such a level that without hesitation CBI was misused to raid the residence of Ashok Saikia and later arrest him." Borah claimed that Ashok Saikia's elder brother, Debabrata Saikia, who is the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, has been ''under tremendous political pressure to switch sides'' and join the BJP. When Saikia rejected all overtures to allure him, the Sarma government victimised his younger brother, he added. Ashok Saikia was arrested by the CBI here on Sunday on the basis of a non-bailable warrant issued against him for non-appearance in court despite summons in a 25-year-old alleged loan default case of around Rs nine lakh. He was granted bail by a special CBI court on Monday. The APCC chief further charged Sarma of starting a new legacy of 'destructive politics' and said, "Democracy is like the setting sun, giving way to autocracy as the new dawn." PTI SSG KKKK KK

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