The Assam BJP on Tuesday suspended Ashim Das, the General Secretary of the party’s SC Morcha for allegedly violating party discipline and damaging the party's image in the public eye.
The suspension of Ashim Das was ordered by state BJP President Bhabesh Kalita.
Notably, Ashim Das is one among the group of fraudsters who have been accused of cheating multiple businessmen from outside Assam out of several crores by issuing fake work orders in the names of various Development Councils, including the Deori Development Council, Adivasi Development Councils, and the Assam State Disaster Management Authority.
According to sources, the group of fraudsters had arranged a meeting with a fake joint secretary in the conference hall of the Assam Secretariat, where they signed documents. The gang also took businessmen to the ministers' colony and had them interact with a fake personal assistant to the ministers.
Birinchi Borkotoky, a retired Publicity Officer of the Directorate of Small Savings, who posed as a fake Joint Secretary facilitated meetings in the government premises. Ashim Das introduced Birinchi as IAS officer B.N. Sarma, and the group proceeded to forge various fake work orders with the bogus identity.
On the other hand, Dewa Prakash Bhagawati created fake entry passes by the help of a broker and let the fraudsters enter into the Janata Bhawan. Ashim Das allegedly learned all the details of this fraud from Partha Bharadwaj, another individual arrested by the CID.
The scam reportedly involved the misappropriation of crores of rupees under the guise of supplying various materials. According to Ashim's confessions, all funds were intended to be diverted for gaining election tickets for 2026 assembly polls.
Sources said that many members of the group are still absconding, including Noida's Amrit Jalali, Arjun Mehta, and Guwahati's Zakir Hussian.
Further, two separate cases have been filed against the fraudsters, one at the Dispur Police Station Case No. 182/2024) and another at the Guwahati Crime Branch Case No. 13/2024.
The Dispur case involves allegations of embezzlement amounting to Rs 3.77 crore, while the Crime Branch case cites a staggering Rs 4 crore misappropriation against the group. The group had also extracted fake work orders from a Bengaluru-based company named Manfo Experts.
The accused allegedly defrauded Bangalore-based company Manpho Exports by creating a fraudulent work order for supplying GR items to the Assam Disaster Management Authority.
Meanwhile, in another breakthrough, the Crime Branch has arrested an accomplice of Ashim Das. The person named Niranjan Das was apprehended from Guwahati’s Hengrabari area.