Responding to a question raised in the assembly by senior Congress MLA Nabam Tuki on the present status of the APPSC paper leak issue, Khandu informed that the chairman and the members of the Commission were appointed but due to agitation launched by the aggrieved candidates, they could not be sworn in.
"Keeping in view the public demands and memorandum submitted by the aggrieved candidates, the state government decided to cancel the appointments," he said.
The chief minister informed that since 2017, there were 11 exams conducted by the APPSC in which arrests have been made on allegations of malpractices.
So far two cases have been registered by Special Investigating Cell (SIC) of the state police and the cases have already been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Khandu informed and added that the premier investigating agency filed a chargesheet on December 9 last year against eight individuals and another on January 30 this year against one person.
"So far 46 government officials and 13 private individuals have been arrested in connection with the malpractices conducted in the recruitment examinations," the chief minister added.
The irregularities came to light after one Gyamar Padung, who appeared in the examination, filed a complaint at the Itanagar police station on August 29, claiming that he suspected that the question paper was leaked. More than 400 candidates appeared in the examination held on August 26 and 27 last year.
The CBI had taken over the investigation on October 27 after the state government recommended it. The case was initially investigated by the Capital Police, and later transferred to the Special Investigation Cell (SIC) of the state police. Itanagar, March 9 (PTI)