Guwahati: Former secretary of Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra, Chabin Rajkhowa, has moved the Supreme Court for anticipatory bail, apprehending arrest in connection with a scam that occurred during his tenure.

The vigilance and anti-corruption bureau had registered a case against Rajkhowa and cashier-cum-assistant accountant of the Kalakshetra, Dwipen Sarma, in July last year under different sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

Rajkhowa was the secretary of the Kalakshetra from July 2, 2009 to July 11, 2011.

An official source said he had approached the apex court after Gauhati High Court refused to provide him pre-arrest bail in December after the investigating agency opposed his bail plea.

The investigating officer told the high court that custodial interrogation of Rajkhowa is required to identify other accused persons and find out the trail of misappropriated money.

"Rajkhowa's petition is likely to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court in the second week of March," the source said.

According to the vigilance and anti-corruption bureau, the case was registered in connection with the alleged misappropriation of government funds amounting to more than Rs 1.1 crore released to the Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra Society (SSKS) by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA).

There had been allegations that Sarma had withdrawn more than Rs 1.1 crore from the account of the society with State Bank of India's Dispur branch on Rajkhowa's directive and disbursed the amount to an unidentified person without taking any receipt and without making an entry in the cash book.

The IGNCA had released the amount to the society to organise the Indigenous Folk Theatre Festival 2011-12 at the Kalakshetra from March 23 to March 28, 2011.

Sarma, however, told the investigators that he had withdrawn the money according to verbal instructions from Rajkhowa and disbursed the amount to a man within a week in instalments.

Sarma said he did not know the man and neither did he obtain any money receipt from him.

From the scrutiny of the bank passbook of the society's account with the SBI, the bureau found around Rs 2.5 crore was withdrawn allegedly at the instruction of Rajkhowa but there is no entry about receipt of the same in the cash book and ledger book.

"Further, a laptop costing Rs 1,09,900, which was purchased from the funds of the society, was also found to be missing," the source said.