Police have registered a case against Dr Ajanta Hazarika, additional superintendent of Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH) in Dibrugarh, based on a complaint accusing her of promising jobs in lieu of money.
The cash-for-jobs case (2150/2020) was registered at Dibrugarh police station in Upper Assam under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 409 (breach of trust) of the IPC on Sunday evening based on an FIR lodged by one Amal Nath.
The alleged cash-for-jobs case involving Hazarika came to light when a purported audio clip of a telephonic conversation between her and one of the persons who paid her money went viral on Saturday. She is said to have allegedly collected Rs 22 lakh through her driver from three persons in lieu of jobs in the Northeast Frontier Railway but the nature of the jobs are not known.
The surgeon could not be contacted but she had dismissed all allegations before a TV channel. The audio clip was released because she was talking tough when she was requested to return the money, sources said.
Hazarika is the second doctor from Assam to have hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons since September when a Guwahati-based doctor Jyotirmoy Das was arrested for allegedly fixing a proxy candidate to take the JEE test on behalf of his son. He is presently in judicial custody.
According to Dibrugarh superintendent of police Prateek Vijay Kumar Thube, Nath has accused Hazarika, registrar of the plastic surgery department of the AMCH, of taking Rs 6 lakh from him four years ago with the promise of providing him a job in the NF Railway.
“We have started our investigation. We have recorded statements and are also examining the charges made in the telephonic conversation,” the SP said.
Both Hazarika and Nath hail from Dibrugarh.
AMCH principal and chief superintendent Dr Sanjib Kakoti said he has conveyed the development to the director, medical education, which will look into the incident. He also said Hazarika had applied for leave on Saturday to visit Guwahati.
Though no action has been initiated against her, the hospital’s Grade III employees’ association has barred the senior doctor from entering the AMCH till her name is cleared of the alleged wrongdoing.
