Kohima, Nov 03, 2022, IANS

New Delhi/ Itanagar, Nov 3 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday conducted searches at 16 different places in Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh as part of its ongoing investigation into a case related to alleged leakage of question paper for an engineering post in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Arunachal Pradesh government had last week removed and suspended four members of Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC), two months after the reported leak of the recruitment exam papers.

So far, 10 persons, including APPSC deputy secretary-cum-deputy controller of examination, have been arrested by the state police for their alleged involvement in the paper leak case.

The APPSC had conducted the examination for the post of Assistant Engineer (civil) on August 26 and 27.

A source said that the CBI officials during the searches recovered incriminating documents, articles including counterfeit stamps of the executive magistrate of Arunachal Pradesh, executive engineer, State Bank of India, along with hard discs and pen drives, among others.

The case was first lodged against Akhilesh Yadav of Jeju Institute, Itanagar, and unknown officials of APPSC.

Following instructions from Chief Minister Pema Khandu, the state government recently handed over the case to the CBI, which also registered a case and a team of the central probe agency headed by a joint director visited Itanagar last week.

The Chief Minister had said that the state government is determined to initiate the process of cleansing of APPSC in the larger interest of the people of the state.

The state government, from day one, has made its intentions very clear for overhauling the entire APPSC and conducting the examinations for various posts in a free, fair and transparent manner, Kandu had said.

The Chairman of the APPSC, Nipo Nabam, had resigned on October 14 "owning moral responsibility for the omissions and commissions of the officer of the commission" who was responsible for ensuring secrecy and preventing leakage of question papers.

Many organisations, including the Anti-Corruption Foundation, have been demanding the suspension of the APPSC Chairman, Secretary and other officials for the reported leak of question paper ahead of the recent examination for the post of assistant engineer (civil).

They have also demanded a "transparent" probe into the alleged leak.

On August 28, a candidate for the examination had lodged an FIR at the Itanagar police station, complaining that the question papers for the APPSC were leaked.