Guwahati: Samujjal Bhattacharjya, an advisor for the All Assam Student’s Union (AASU) has been accused of accepting a bribe from Prateek Hajela, the former state coordinator for the National Registry of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, according to a complaint made by Hitesh Dev Sarma on Thursday.
In an explosive allegation, Dev took to his Facebook account saying, “I was NRC state coordinator for more than two-and-a-half years. But, the AASU leadership never turned up to meet me despite that I unearthed the anomalies happened earlier during the NRC updation exercise. Samujjal Bhattacharjya used to visit the NRC state coordinator’s office every afternoon when Hajela was in charge of the office. Why? The news in the market is that Samujjal Bhattacharjya took bribe of Rs 16 lakhs per month from Hajela to cover the anomalies happened in NRC exercise. I don’t know the truth, but an investigation into this matter can reveal the details. However, it is true that Samujjal Bhattacharjya never demanded the reverification of the NRC. Both are the fellow passengers of the same boat.”
The former NRC coordinator further claimed in a Facebook post that Basanta Deka, another AASU leader, had encouraged him not to speak out against Prateek Hajela since the AASU leadership thought Hajela was an effective officer.
Moreover, Dev Sarma, who has been outspoken about his position on the NRC exercise, filed a police report in May of last year accusing his predecessor Hajela of treason for knowingly permitting mistakes to be made during the production of the NRC draught list. Hajela was also accused of laundering funds earmarked for the NRC exercise.
Hajela was succeeded by Dev Sarma in November 2019, one month after he travelled on deputation from Assam to Madhya Pradesh. Hitesh Dev Sarma left his position as NRC state coordinator in July of last year.
Meanwhile, reacting to the allegation by Dev Sarma on social media, Samujjal Bhattacharjya told the media in New Delhi, “Hitesh Dev Sarma is a complete liar, and his claim that I had taken a bribe of 16 lakh rupees is totally false. He has lost his mental balance, and I would suggest that he consult a psychiatrist. I am going to file a defamation case against him after due consultation with my lawyer.”
The leader of the student body went on to say that AASU was the first party to file a petition with the Supreme Court asking for a re-verification of the entire NRC exercise since it began.
The Supreme Court-monitored NRC initiative to remove “illegal immigrants” from Assam has been in limbo since the final drafting list of residents was made public on August 31, 2019.
It should be noted that 19.06 lakh of the 3.29 crore candidates were disqualified from the list because of concerns about their citizenship.