Itanagar: Just two days are left before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file charge sheet(s) against accused Thomas Gaduk and Akhilesh Yadav in the APPSC assistant engineer (civil) examination question paper leak case.
Similarly, the premier investigating agency of the country also has only a week’s time to file the charge sheet(s) against the main accused APPSC deputy secretary Taket Jerang and two others in the same case.
According to Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Code, a default (compulsive) bail is granted to an accused if the probe agency fails to conclude the investigation and file a charge sheet within a stipulated period of either 60 or 90 days in a court of competent jurisdiction.
The charge sheet is to be filed within 60 days from the date of arrest of the accused in cases triable by lower courts and 90 days in cases triable by Court of Sessions.
The APPSC case is under trail at the District and Sessions Court in Yupia near here.
Thomas, a candidate of the assistant engineer (civil) examination conducted by the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) in 2021 and Yadav, a coaching institute teacher were arrested by the police on September 11 for their alleged involvement in the paper leak case.
Hence, 88 days have already passed by, if one counts the days from the day of arrest.
On the other hand, Jerang along with Tanyang Gaduk, the father of Thomas and Tama Saroh, the middleman, were arrested by the police on September 16.
Eighty three days have passed since their arrest.
The District and Sessions Court in Yupia had on November 19 rejected the bail plea of Jerang and three others.
Several individuals and aspirants NewsFy contacted expressed dissatisfaction over the time taken by the CBI to file the charge sheets.
“They can at least file a charge sheet for now and an additional one (charge sheet) later. I don’t understand the delay,” a senior advocate said.
Another legal practitioner said that there is every possibility that the SIC may take the accused persons into custody again if the CBI fails to submit the charge sheets on time.
“This is a serious case so I hope the charge sheet will be filed in time,” he said.
The question paper leak incident came to light after one Gyamar Padung, a candidate of the APPSC assistant engineer (civil) examination himself, filed a police complaint before the Itanagar police station on August 29 claiming that he suspected that the examination paper had been leaked.
The case was initially investigated by the Capital police and later transferred to the Special Investigation Cell (SIC) of the state police.
Following demands from various quarters, the Arunachal government recommended a CBI probe in the case.
The agency took over the investigation on October 27. The CBI recorded a conviction rate of 67.56% in 2021.
Also read: Arunachal: Govt wants CBI to probe APPSC exams from 2014
