APPSC Exam: One more arrested in connection with question paper leak

ITANAGAR: One more person has been arrested in connection with the alleged Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) question paper leak, a senior police officer said on Wednesday. The Arunachal Pradesh Police nabbed the man from West Bengal. He was working in a courier service in Itanagar, Capital Region Superintendent of Police Jimmy Chiram said. The man, identified as 44-year-old Dilip Saha, was arrested on the basis of information provided by Taket Jerang, deputy secretary and controller of examinations of APPSC. "Jerang admitted he had leaked the question paper before printing in connivance with Saha, who had carried the paper to the press," Chiram claimed.

With the fresh arrest, six people have been nabbed so far in connection with alleged leak of a question paper for the assistant engineers (civil) mains examination conducted by APPSC in August. Besides Jerang, four others were earlier arrested including Akhilesh Yadav, a teacher of a coaching institute, Thomas Gaduk, a candidate, his father Tanyang Gaduk, head assistant at the office of the deputy director of school education in Siang district, and Tama Saroh, a middleman. Initial probe revealed that the candidate's father had approached the middleman in 2021 to find a link to procure the question paper for the mains examination for his son. The middleman had bribed the deputy controller of examinations and the question papers were procured illegally and given to the candidate before the test was held, he said.

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During the investigation, it was found that the sealed question paper was copied by the deputy controller of examinations and sent to the candidate through the middleman. The candidate had reportedly consulted the teacher for answers of the procured question paper. The teacher had allegedly revealed the questions to another student, who filed a written complaint on the alleged question paper leak with the police on August 29 -- two days after the examination. Preliminary inquiry was conducted on receipt of the complaint and the report was submitted to the SP's office on September 10. The case was registered subsequently.

During investigation, it was found that the middleman was paid Rs 43 lakh in cash by the candidate's father in 2021 to procure the question paper of the mains examination. The middleman had given Rs 15 lakh to the deputy controller of examinations and kept the rest with him. The two had invested the money in property, the SP said. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) had been constituted and police have seized two vehicles, invoice and cash memos for the procurement of hardware and other materials related to the case, Chiram added. Earlier, two candidates had alleged that the paper of the main examination were leaked and petitioned the court for a stay on the declaration of its result. A total of 415 candidates had appeared for 33 posts of assistant engineer in the examination.

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Meanwhile, the APPSC, in an order on Tuesday, stated that the AE (civil) examination will be conducted again with a fresh date in due course of time. APPSC Secretary Jayanta Kumar Ray said the candidates who appeared in the preliminary test shall be eligible to reappear in the examination. The decision to re-conduct the entire examination process was made after materials were found during the investigation into the question paper leak. He said as the matter is still under investigation by the SIT and the police, the commission will ensure that the examination is conducted at the earliest. The preliminary test was conducted on June 12 and the mains examination on August 26 and 27. The secretary also said the examinations for women medical officers, veterinary officers, and assistant conservators of forest, PGT and dairy development officers remain cancelled due to administrative reasons. Fresh dates for these examinations shall be notified in due course of time, he added.