In NRC process Prateek Hajela sued for Rs 155cr corruption

GUWAHATI: Prateek Hajela is now in trouble as two criminal cases were registered against him for his alleged involvement in corruption cases worth Rs 155 crore in updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The Kamrup Metro Chief Judicial Magistrate on April 12 registered a case against the state’s former NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela along with two others.
Along with this, the state vigilance and anti-corruption directorate also registered a suo moto case against the former state NRC coordinator.

“If he doesn’t want to work in Assam, why should I pay him? If he takes VRS, let him go. But when the police call him, he has to come. We have referred the case to the director of economics and vigilance. An FIR has already been registered,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told a press conference here on April 12.
Along with this, the state vigilance and anti-corruption directorate also registered a suo moto case against the former state NRC coordinator.

“If he doesn’t want to work in Assam, why should I pay him? If he takes VRS, let him go. But when the police call him, he has to come. We have referred the case to the director of economics and vigilance. An FIR has already been registered,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told a press conference here on April 12.
VRS and case investigation are two different things. What area should I offer him? If he takes VRS, it will be a win for Assamese people.

Prateek Hajela, a 1995-batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, was sent to Madhya Pradesh in 2019 following the Supreme Court’s order, as her life was in danger over the NRC issue.
Prateek Hajela has recently moved the state personnel department for Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) and it is learned that he has already obtained NOC from the Meghalaya government.
On April 12, the court of the CJM of Kamrup Metro registered a case (CR 7171/2023) against Hajela , WIPRO Ltd represented by its managing director Doddakannell and Utpal Hazarika, owner of Integrated System Integrator and Services. , he had fraudulently withdrawn Rs 155 crore. Government Exchequer in the name of NRC updating process.
The court has registered an FIR under sections 120 (B), 420, 405, 409, 506 against the city police against Prateek Hajila and two others on behalf of a city-based businessman and film-maker Luit Kumar Barman. Based on the application filed on 34 and all other relevant sections of the IPC and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

In the petition, Barmana mentioned two key witnesses – retired IAS officer Hitesh Dev Sarma and Assam Public Works (APW) president Abhijeet Sharma.
“The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)’s Social, Economic and General Sector Report for the year 2020 has revealed that a huge sum of Rs 155 crore has been misappropriated by the three accused. The NRC collectively in the name of updating,” Barman alleged in the petition.
“To update the NRC, Prateek Hajela commissioned WIPRO Ltd. to supply Data Entry Operators (DEO) and software development without following any proper process of transparent tendering. WIPRO, a System Integrator (SI ), is owned and managed by Utpal Hazarika for the process of updating the more integrated system and services (ISS),” Barman alleged in the petition.
“It was found that the office of the State NRC Coordinator was well aware of the fact that WIPRO had sub-contracted the crucial task of updating the NRC to a third party – ISS owner Utpal Hazarika in violation of the prescribed norms. Clause 4.24 and as per Clause 9.2, the System Integrator (SI) is permitted to subcontract any activities related to system design and development, deployment and enhancement of NRC software solutions, operation of the data center and network integration with the data center. No,” said the petitioner.
“In case of such sub-contracting, the System Integrator should obtain prior approval and clearance of the department to engage all sub-contractors. However, WIPRO has, at the behest of the State NRC Coordinator, engaged third parties without following these norms. sub-contracted the contracts,” the petitioner also alleged.
“WIPRO was paid Rs 14,500 per DEO per month by the NRC authorities, but the DEOs received only Rs 5,500 per month during 2015-2019. Even DEOs were not paid the minimum wage as per the Minimum Wages Act. was denied,” he alleged.
According to a provisional audit, the Accountant General (AG) observed that the difference in margin was very high ranging from 45.59 to 64.22 percent. An audit assessed that WIPRO was allowed to give a reasonable profit of 10 percent to the contractor under the benefit of Rs 155.83 crore, the petitioner further alleged.

“The ill-gotten gain of Rs 155.83 crore is a huge amount and it is reasonable to suspect that kickbacks and money laundering must have taken place in the process. The complainant has gone through the CAG report carefully,” he said.
On 19 October 2022, the petitioner lodged an FIR before the Officer-in-Charge of Paltan Bazar Police Station stating that WIPRO was given the task of supplying the DEO for updating the NRC programme.
During the NRC process all the citizens of Assam everywhere faced problems because most of the government employees were busy with the NRC process yet they tolerated it with the hope that a real and final NRC would be done. C will be published but in the name of updating the NRC process. , there was mismanagement of the fund of more than 100 crores.
“After receiving the FIR, the OC neither registered it nor initiated any inquiry against it. Having no other option, we sent a mail to the Commissioner of Police Guwahati on 17 March 2023. In which he was informed regarding the non-filing of the FIR by the In-charge Paltan Bazar Police Station dated 19 October 2022. However, the Commissioner of Police neither took any action nor responded to the complainant.
“The present case before this court is a case of heinous corruption involving a huge sum of Rs.155.83 crores in a very calculated and concerted manner whereby the accused dishonestly misappropriated a huge sum of public money. misused.”
Non-registration of FIR. Creating several doubts and uncertainties which are imposed on investigative agencies by the law of the land. We now doubt the whole matter as the complainant has filed his complaint which is fully supported by the CAG report and the AG report but for the best reasons known to him the case has not been registered,” Barman charged.
Barman further alleged that “we have reason to believe that some powerful people are also involved in the matter due to which such corruption in the society continues for their own interests and no action is taken only to save the corrupt.” It is not done”.

“The petitioner took the stand that if the criminal conduct of the accused is not checked and punished according to law, this type of corruption cannot be stopped and public money will be wasted in the future.” will be misused.” added
Notably, earlier on May 19, 2022, the then State NRC Coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma had also lodged an FIR with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which the probe agency is yet to investigate. Not listed.

The second FIR was registered on June 13 in the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Wing of the Assam Police. This FIR is also yet to be taken.
In both complaints, Sarma said his predecessor had violated the Minimum Wages Act by Wipro, the system integrator (SI) tasked with supplying data entry operators for the NRC updating exercise. . But while Wipro was paid ₹14,500-17,500 per month per data entry operator, operators were paid only ₹5,500-9,100 per month from 2015 to 2019.
On 26 November 2020, Assam Public Works (APW) President Abhijeet Sharma registered the first FIR against Hajila before the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption.

The investigating agency started a preliminary inquiry based on the allegations and sent it to the then Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. But the file is nipped in the bud.
The NRC exercise has been virtually nonexistent since August 31, 2019, when the full draft was published, leaving 19.06 lakh people out of 3.3 crore applicants for alleged lack of proper citizenship documents.