A Staff Reporter GUWAHATI, June 3 –
The Congress-led Assam Government today received a serious jolt as the Education Minister Ripun Bora was arrested in New Delhi while trying to offer bribe to an officer of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). One journalist of a local vernacular daily and a businessman who tried to act as middlemen were also arrested in connection with the case.A criminal case, 120-B r/w Section 12 and 9 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 has been registered against the Minister.CBI sources said that the Education Minister tried to bribe DSP A D Gupta of the Special Crime Cell of the Bureau, who is the investigation officer of the case relating to murder of a political leader Daniel Topno in Dhekiajuli in September 2000. The case was handed over to the CBI following allegations of a political conspiracy and the Bureau was on the verge of zeroing in on the culprits involved in the murder. Sources said that the CBI questioned the prime accused Pulin Phukan at least eight times in the months of April and May including twice in Delhi in connection with the case and he was known to be close to Bhola Bora, the brother of Ripun Bora. It is believed that Ripun Bora panicked after the frequent interrogations of a close associate of his brother and tried to bribe the investigation officer.Sources said that the Education Minister, accompanied by a journalist Mukul Pathak, went to meet the investigation officer of the Topno murder case in a guesthouse of the CBI in the Sundar Nagar area of Delhi. CBI sources claimed that the Minister tried to offer a bribe of Rs 10 lakh to the investigating officer and he was detained on the spot and later arrested on charges of trying to bribe a Government servant. The journalist accompanying the Minister managed to escape during the commotion and caught an Indian Airlines Flight to Guwahati. But the CBI headquarters intimated its Guwahati office immediately and Pathak was arrested in the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi airport immediately after his arrival by the officers of the Bureau. He was produced in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate here for obtaining transit remand. Pathak was sent to Delhi this evening, sources said.Sources said that Ripun Bora and Mukul Pathak are likely to be produced in the Special CBI Court at Patiala House tomorrow.Interestingly Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is also in New Delhi today and he could not be contacted for his comments on the arrest of the Education Minister. However, the Chief Minister’s press adviser Deba Bora said that according to Gogoi, the law would take its own course.It may be mentioned here that Ripun Bora was an Assam Civil Service officer before quitting service to join politics.
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