In a major development in the ongoing investigation into the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) recruitment scam, probing officer Prateek Thube was on Tuesday directed to be removed from duty.

This comes a day after a special court expressed displeasure with the probe done by the special investigation team (SIT) in the case directing further investigation to be conducted.

Thube, an IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, was found lacking in conducting a proper investigation into the matter. Having directed his removal, the court ordered that the responsibility be handed to an officer above the rank of deputy superintendent of police (DSP).

In the wake of the SIT submitting its charge sheet in the APSC scam case, the special magistrate's court on Monday expressed dissatisfaction with the probe.

The court directed the SIT to further investigate the matter. The SIT had filed a charge sheet with the names of four people as the main perpetrators behind the entire scam on Thursday, June 20.

However, the court only assumed the charge sheets of two of them today - Waheda Begum's and Sukanya Das'.

On the other hand, the court directed the SIT to further probe the matters of Nanda Babu Singh and Rakesh Das and file another charge sheet along with the one after investigating the other accused in the case.

It may be noted that the SIT constituted to look into the APSC recruitment scam submitted its first charge sheet in the matter after almost nine months.