The Enforcement Directorate’s Guwahati Zonal Office has provisionally attached three properties worth approximately Rs 65.60 lakh in connection with a case involving a Northeast Frontier Railway official and his wife. Hem Chandra Borah, a Deputy Chief Engineer of NFR, and his wife Gayatree Saikia, a government school teacher, are under scrutiny for allegedly possessing assets disproportionate to their known income sources. The investigation stemmed from an FIR by the CBI, Anti-Corruption Branch-I, New Delhi, against Borah for violating the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The Central Bureau of Investigation also named Gayatree Saikia in the case under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act. A chargesheet was filed by the CBI before the court on March 25, 2025. The Enforcement Directorate’s analysis revealed that between April 1, 2016, and January 17, 2021, Borah amassed assets significantly exceeding his legitimate income in collusion with his wife. The disproportionate assets were estimated at nearly Rs 73.76 lakh, representing about 86.88% of the couple’s total legal earnings during the period.
Allegedly, the couple employed a structured approach to launder the illicit proceeds. Despite having seven bank accounts, their ATM and UPI withdrawals totaled only Rs 1.36 lakh, indicating limited use of banking channels for expenses. Investigators claimed that gratification money was used for daily costs, while salary income was channeled through cheques to buy properties, aiming to portray them as clean assets. The Enforcement Directorate’s inquiry is ongoing to delve deeper into the matter.
