Assam whistleblower sacked,charged with ULFA links

An accounts officer who pointed out irregularities amounting to several lakhs of rupees in the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship,Guwahati....

An accounts officer who pointed out irregularities amounting to several lakhs of rupees in the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE),Guwahati,has been dismissed from his job for the second time in two years. Lakhyajit Deka,who first brought these irregularities to the notice of the Director,IIE,K Ahmad,had been reinstated after his first dismissal after the Central Administrative Tribunal in Guwahati gave a ruling in his favour. An FIR has been lodged with the police by Ahmad alleging that Deka had links with the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).

The CBI has registered two cases in connection with the financial irregularities and has been waiting for sanction of the Ministry of Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) for more than eight months now. The irregularities have also figured in a CAG report as well as one by an internal auditor.

An official in the CBI office here confirmed the agency had sent a letter to the ministry seeking sanction to prosecute six officers in the IIE,Guwahati,including the director,the administrative officer and two faculty members. The CBIs request has been pending with the joint secretary and chief vigilance officer of the ministry since November 2009. The joint secretary-cum-CVO in the ministry,who is supposed to grant sanction to the CBI to prosecute the officials,also wrote a letter to the Assam DGP in January alleging that an ULFA leader had threatened the IIE,Guwahati director at the behest of Deka.

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The CBI had carried out a day-long raid in IIE premises on November 12,2008,during which it seized a number of documents that contained evidence of financial irregularities that had occurred there.

While the CBI summoned him as a prime witness in the case,on October 19,2009,the director of IIE terminated Dekas services on December 12,2009. Deka had even written to Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily on June 25 stating his plight in the wake of bringing the irregularities to light.