APPSC paper leakage case; 5arrested
A case has been registered under section 120-B/420/406/407/409, IPC.
ITANAGAR- The Itanagar Capital Police has arrested five people allegedly involved in the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) Assistant Engineer (Civil) exam question paper leak case and a case has been registered under section 120-B/420/406/407/409, IPC.
The arrested persons have been identified as APPSC Deputy Secretary-cum-Deputy Controller of Examinations Taket Jerang (53), AE exam candidate Thomas Gaduk (26), Akhilesh Yadav, teacher of Jeju Institute, Thomas Gaduk’s father and Head assistant Tanyang Gaduk (57), and GPS Tarak Pangin Jr. Teacher Tama Saroh (53).
In a press conference, Itanagar Capital Region’s SP Jimmy Chiram revealed that Jerang had traded the question papers of AE Civil Prelims and Mains exams for financial gain. Chiram pointed out that, on August 29, a written communication was received from Gyamar Padang, a candidate of APPSC AE exam, claiming that he suspected that the paper had been leaked.
“Based on the complaint a preliminary inquiry was conducted and the report was submitted to the SP office on September 10. Later, a case was registered at Itanagar police station, which appointed Inspector Ongsa Rongrang as the investigating officer,” the SP said.
The candidate Gaduk and the coaching institute teacher Yadav were arrested on September 11, while Tanyang Gaduk and middleman Tama Saroh were arrested on September 16, he said.
The SP said, after detailed interrogation and revelations, Taket Jerang was arrested on the same day.
He said that, as per preliminary investigation, Tanyang Gaduk had approached middleman Saroh to find a link to obtain the question paper of the examination for his son in 2021. “Accordingly, Saroh approached Jerang for the task and lured him with a promise to pay him money, and the question papers of the AE exam were illegally procured and provided to Thomas before the exam,” the SP said.
He also said that “Jerang opened the sealed packet and copied the paper and delivered it to Thomas via Saroh.” “Thomas consulted Akhilesh, who explained the questions to the complainant,” the SP said.
It is claimed that Tanyang Gaduk gave Tama Saroh about Rs 43 lakh in cash, of which Rs 15 lakh was given in cash by Saroh to Jerang. The cash deal was reportedly done in 2021. It is also alleged that the money received by Saroh and Jerang was converted into properties. A Hyundai i20 car and a Mahindra Scorpio were used in this crime.
The Capital Police has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising Additional SP Thutan Jamba, SDPO Kamdum Sikom, Inspector Ongsa Rongrang, SI AK Jha and Constable Pranjal Medhi to probe the matter.
When asked whether there is a possibility of leak of question paper by the same team in the previous competitive exams of APPSC, Chiram said that no leads have been received in this regard so far.
