Travel abroad 9 times in several other countries including China and Bangladesh without the permission of the Ministry of Home Affairs
by Bhupen Goswami
Guwahati : Deputy Inspector General of Police Raunak Ali Hazarika, an IPS officer from Assam, has been arrested and produced before the court by the police today after being closely monitored by the Home Ministry of the Government of India since 2017. A senior Assam Police official said that where the Union Home Ministry had kept the IPS officer in sight long ago. He had visited several other countries including China and Bangladesh nine times without the permission of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. At the same time, they have created disproportionate assets.
According to intelligence reports, the Government of India has allowed the Assam government to interrogate the officer. He was then immediately suspended by Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi. After the suspension, the IPS officer was kept under the scanner on the directions of Chief Minister Himant Bishwa Sarma and was called to the police station yesterday for questioning and arrested today. According to police reports, senior intelligence officers had come from Delhi yesterday as directed by the Home Ministry and have questioned the arrested IPS officer throughout the night.
A press release by Assam Police claimed that the Chief Minister’s Special Vigilance Cell found Hazarika’s property to be mismatched with legitimate sources of income, following which action was taken. According to the release, an inquiry was initiated after a case was registered against him and it was found that Hazarika had accumulated disproportionate movable and immovable property between 1992 and 2021. More than 200 crore properties have been found. The house has received foreign exchange worth crores of rupees from several other countries including China and Bangladesh. His disproportionate assets have been found to be 164.80 per cent, the release said. Adequate evidence including foreign currencies has been collected from his residence. Assam Police claimed that the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) has so far spent Rs 1,74,12,974 on the education of his two children.
According to the release, “Raunak Ali Hazarika’s international travel history shows that he has left the country nine times without the permission of competent authority and has travelled abroad. The DIG has a salary account with the State Bank of India besides his family members in Axis Bank, Yes Bank etc. A large amount of cash has been detected in these accounts between 2019 and 2021. The Indian Police Service (IPS) officer was suspended in July this year for allegedly going abroad several times since 2011 without the necessary permission of the Home Department.
