Guwahati, Sept. 16: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Assam police has arrested three persons, including two present officials and a former one of the state home department for their alleged involvement in a conspiracy to swindle public money.

A police source said that retired deputy secretary of home Gagan Chandra Pator and junior assistant executives of the same department Probin Das and Anil Baruah were arrested by the CID last night.

Pator and Baruah were remanded in three days’ police custody while Das was sent to judicial remand after they were produced in court today.

The source said that in 2001, the Assam police had sent a proposal to the home department for procuring different equipment for setting up a digital mobile radio network from the state police at an estimated cost of around Rs 1.78 crore.

“The home department, while according approval to the project, also recommended the name of a Bangalore-based company for procuring these equipment, which was in violation of norms. Later it was found that a few officers had conspired to illegally recommend one particular manufacturer allegedly taking kickback from it,” the source said.