Tezpur, Sept. 22: Constable Azhar Ali, who had served as the personal security officer (PSO) of Congress leader and former Assam minister Nurjamal Sarkar, was arrested from Lakhimpur district today for his alleged involvement in rhino poaching.

Sarkar, who was a Congress MLA from Biswanath constituency, was the fishery, soil conservation and irrigation minister in the Tarun Gogoi's government.

A team of Biswanath police arrested Ali, who is currently a constable in the Biswanath district executive force, and handed him over to the forest department for his alleged role in killing a rhino and its calf on August 3 at Kaziranga National Park.

He was arrested on the basis of confessions made by two poachers - Maqbul Ali and Mohammed Noor Kassem - who were apprehended by the state forest department from Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on September 18.

Yesterday, forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma had disclosed that Ali and Kassem said they had killed the rhino at the behest of a former Assam minister but she refused to say the ex-minister's name. Following Ali's arrest today, there were speculations that the ex-minister could be Nurjamal Sarkar.

The Assam PCC this evening criticised the forest minister for telling television journalists about Sarkar's alleged involvement in poaching without conducting any proper official investigation.

"The Congress will never support any of its leaders or workers if he or she is involved in rhino poaching. But it is unfair to raise such serious allegations against Sarkar without a probe. Sarkar has already told two television channels that he is ready to face a CBI inquiry," senior PCC spokesperson Apurba Kumar Bhattacharyya told The Telegraph this evening.