The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has said that the case filed by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against three government employees of Nagaland on alleged bribery charges is “shocking” but “along expected lines” considering the corruption on all levels of governance in the State.

In a press release issued on Sunday, Nagaland Congress blamed the “morally bankrupt oppositionless government” of encouraging corruption and welcomed the step taken by the CBI. “… it is nowhere near enough, because what we are witnessing here, as awful as it looks, is just the tip of an all pervasive mammoth iceberg of cancer eating away at the rights and wellbeing of the common people of Nagaland, one painful bite at a time,” NPCC stated.

Condemning the “vulgar fallout of corruption unfolding before our eyes”, the Congress urged the ruling government “to mend their ways lest the culture of decadence and ineptitude that they so shamelessly espouse now drags us all down to a point of no return.”

Earlier this month, the CBI had registered an FIR against Jitendra Gupta, IAS, Additional Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Rampaukai, Deputy Conservator of Forest and Auto Vihoi, Veterinary Assistant Surgeon, Department of Animal Husbandry, in an alleged bribery case while working under Project FOCUS (Fostering Climate Resilient Upland Farming System) in Nagaland. The Bureau had also carried out searches at eleven locations at Delhi and Nagaland in this connection.

The investigation began when Rs 71.50 lakh was found from the possession of the officials while they were travelling from Dimapur to Delhi. Upon questioning by the Income Tax Department officials, the Deputy Conservator of Forest and the Veterinary Assistant Surgeon claimed that the cash belonged to the accused Addl. Secretary “who had received the same as bribe from various persons associated with the project for approving the bills”, CBI stated in its press release.