notes on the decision-making process involving consultations with and approval accorded by high governmental authorities, are perused. The office files called for by this Court covers each of the 52 (fifty-two) writ petitioners and, to be precise, the following Office File No. (i)AAP148/2017 pertains to Bhaskar Dutta Das (A-11), Bhaskar Deva Sarma (A-12) and Amrit Jyoti Sharma (A-13); (ii) AAP 380/2017 in respect of Dipak Khanikar (A-14), Dwithun Borgayary (A-17), Debojit Bora (A-20), Pallabi Sarma Choudhury (A-22), Anirudhya Roy (A-24), Himangshu Choudhury (A25), Kunal Das (A-27), Kamal Debnath (A-30), Badrul Islam Choudhury (A-32), Geetali Doley (A-34), Rajarshi Sen Deka (A-35), Rumi Saikia (A-36) and Nisha Moni Deka (A-37); (iii) AAP 150/2018 in respect of Moon Mazoomder (A-47), Monika Teronpi (A-48), Srabanti Sengupta (A-49), Leena Krishna Kakati (A- 50), Barnali Das (A-51), Deepshikha Phukan (A-52), Dhrubajyoti Chakraborty (A-55), Manzuoor Elahi Laskar (A-56), Saibur Rahman Barbhuiyan (A-57), Ganesh Chandra Das (A58), Susovan Das (A-59), Utpal Bhuyan (A-60) and Mustafa Ahmed Barbhuiyan (A65); (iv) AAP 91/2018 in respect of Hrituraj Gogoi (A-43) and Joydev Mahanta (A45); (v) HMA924/2017 in respect of Hemanta Saikia (A-15), Jayanta Kr. Nath (A16), Sabbira Imran (A-18), Harshajyoti Bora (A-21), Jotindra Pd. Baruah (A-26), Dilip Kumar Kalita (A-29), Kaushik Kalita (A-42), Gulshan Daolagupu (A-61), Pallavi Sharma (A-53), Bhargav Phukan (A-62) and Kavita Das (A-66); (vi) FTX 115/2017 in respect of Sunayana Aidew (A-33), Vikas Kr. Pincha (A-38), Manas Protim Haloi (A-39), Barnali Devi (A-44), Rhituraj Neog (A-63) and Nipan Kr. Pathak (A-64); (vii) TMV 299/2016 in respect of Prasanjit Kr. Ghosh (A-46); (viii) TMV 298/2016 in respect of Suranjita Hazarika (A-54), and (ix)/(x) GLR 169/2017 and GLR 169/2017/Pt-I in respect of Raju Saha (A-19) and Jyotirmoy Adhikary (A-31). The grounds of arrest and the materials collected against the petitioners are contained in the aforesaid office files. Broadly, investigations revealed that the petitioners were involved in securing job by adopting unlawful means in collusion with the arrested accused person, Sri Rakesh Kr. Paul, the then Chairman of APSC, and other arrested members of the Assam Public Service Commission and officials and agents connected therewith. During the course of investigations, written answerscripts of the APSC Combined Competitive Examination were seized from the Confidential Examination Branch of APSC as well as from the house of Sri Rakesh Kr. Paul. The handwriting samples of the arrested accused persons as well as that of the petitioners were obtained and sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for examination. It revealed that the answer-scripts were not printed in the Government Press. Also, the signatures of Invigilators in the answer-scripts were found to be fake and mismatched with the Invigilators who were on duty on the respective day of examination in the particular Examination Hall. These fake answer-scripts were written again by the petitioners after completion of the examination and the same were replaced with the original answer-sheets in
