Northeastern states hit by recruitment exam paper leaks

Itanagar/Guwahati: After Assam, neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh has been rocked by a reported leak of recruitment exam papers forcing the Chief Minister Pema Khandu to announce to take stern action against the guilty. The Chief Minister on Saturday said that police are seriously investigating the case and five persons have been arrested so far. Probe is still on.

The state government would not tolerate any kind of corruption and anyone found involved in the latest incident, irrespective of his or her position or status, would not be spared, Khandu said in a statement.

"It is indeed frustrating that despite our sincerest efforts to streamline the recruitment process, incidents like this occur out of the blues. I assure the candidates and the people that action will be taken against the guilty and the point of leakage investigated and rectified so that it is not repeated in future," the chief minister said.

Many organisations, including the Anti-Corruption Foundation, have demanded the suspension of the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission's (APPSC) chairperson, secretary and other officials for the reported leak of the question paper ahead of the recent examination for the post of Assistant Engineer (Civil). They have also demanded a "transparent" probe into the leak.

On August 28, a candidate for the examination lodged an FIR at the Itanagar police station, complaining that the question papers for the APPSC exam held on August 26 and 27 were leaked.

Assam was also rocked by alleged scam in the recruitment for 26,000 Grade III and Grade IV posts, the exams for which were held in several phases in August amid mobile Internet shutdown and imposition of the prohibitory orders 144 CrPc. The Assam police recently arrested Victor Das, who owned a coaching centre in Guwahati.

Das through the social media platforms alleged about the question paper leak and the involvement of some officials and former MLAs in selling some posts for Rs 3-8 lakh. The Gauhati High Court on Friday granted interim bail to Das, also a vlogger.

The opposition parties had criticised the BJP-led government for "suppressing the truth". Assam Pradesh Congress President Bhupen Kumar Borah said that Himanta Biswa Sarma government arrests or takes action against the person whoever points a finger at his government's loopholes.

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