Assam Opposition Protests Arrest Of Man For His 'Cash-For-Job Scam' Tweet

A tweet by a man and his subsequent arrest over it led the opposition parties in Assam to attack the state government.

Victor Das was arrested after his tweets alleged a cash-for-job scam in the recently-held government recruitment exam for Grade III and IV jobs last week.

While Mr Das was arrested by Assam police under several stringent sections of the Indian Penal Code, including charges of criminal conspiracy, extortion, rumor-mongering, offense at a place of worship, and inciting a community, his family, legal experts, and opposition parties are claiming that Assam government is trying to "shoot the messenger".

Last weekend, the tweets of Victor Das, who teaches at a government school and runs a coaching centre, went viral.

"Whatever allegations he made in his tweet, we probed it and found out that everything is untrue, he had done this criminal conspiracy to extort money" Pallav Tamuly, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Guwahati, told reporters.

Assam unit Trinamool Youth Congress on Tuesday staged a protest rally demanding the immediate release of Victor Das.

Trinamool Youth Congress began their protest march from their main office in Guwahati. Many of the members of Trinamool Youth Congress during the protest.

The main opposition party Congress has urged Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi to direct the state government to probe into allegations of corruption in recently held examinations for recruitment to over 26,000 Grade III and IV posts.

The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee submitted a memorandum to the governor and demanded the immediate release of Victor Das, the "whistleblower" in the alleged scam.

"We want that police should not shoot the messenger, rather police should work towards investigating the corruption," said Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia told NDTV.

"Victor as complained about possible corruption but he was jailed for such sections related like inciting communities to show that the government is actually destroying all democratic norms," said Independent MLA and Activist Akhil Gogoi.

Another key opposition party - AIUDF has also raised a serious question.

"The complainer himself has been arrested..what does it mean? Is the govt trying to suppress the scam if not Victor Das should be immediately released" said AIUDF MLA Rafikul Islam.

The tweets alleged a cash-for-job scam in Assam government's recruitment exams which were taken by lakhs, and held under unprecedented security, including section 144 outside exam centres and a mobile internet ban.