Guwahati, June 16: Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) adviser Akhil Gogoi was arrested today from the front of Assam Public Service Commission building minutes before he was to address the media about alleged anomalies in the commission.
Police said Akhil was arrested for "inciting" people from preventing APSC officials from entering the office. After the arrest, he was taken to Basistha police station and then to Panbazar police station (where regular check-up was conducted by doctors) and then the court of chief judicial magistrate, Kamrup (metro). The court remanded him in 14-day judicial custody.
Akhil has been on a hunger strike since yesterday demanding a CBI probe into alleged anomalies in the selection process of Assam Civil Service, Assam Police Service and other service examinations whose results were declared recently. The APSC and its chairman Rakesh Kumar Paul have been under fire for quite some time after reports emerged in the local media about alleged anomalies in the selection process.
Besides Akhil, the police arrested Kamal Kumar Medhi, leader of the Gana Mukti Sangram, Assam, and four others. Akhil leads the newly floated party.
APSC controller of examinations A. Nanda Babu Singha had filed an FIR at Dispur police station accusing Akhil and Medhi for instigating other KMSS members not to allow APSC officials from entering the office and using filthy language against them.
The police registered a case (no. 1169/15) under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 341 (wrongful restraint), 294 (obscene acts and songs), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. The family members of the arrested persons are contemplating filing bail plea in the sessions and Gauhati High Court.
After the arrests, Akhil's supporters staged a protest near the APSC building demanding his release and flayed chief minister Tarun Gogoi for "degrading" the reputation of APSC, which they said should have been one of the most revered organisations instead of becoming a "market". Around 50 protesters marched to Basistha police station demanding Akhil's release but the police pushed them into buses and took them to Chandrapur, around 20km from there, as preventive detention.
Rubul Das, president of All Assam Scheduled Caste Students' Union, which has been supporting Akhil's protest, described his arrest as "abduction" and "murder of democracy".
"Before the arrest, the police told us there would be regular health check-up of Akhil. But they put a vehicle between Akhil and us and forcefully took him away. It is abduction in broad daylight," he said.
Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad and Power of Students' of Assam, both student groups, also criticised Akhil's arrest.
Yesterday, there were protests in different parts of the city, including the Assam secretariat, Raj Bhavan and the police headquarters, after Akhil was not allowed to protest inside the APSC campus. Later, he held the protest on the footpath.
