Itanagar, Aug. 24: Gegong Apang was arrested today by a probe cell for his alleged involvement in a scam relating to distribution of essential food items under the public distribution system during his tenure as Arunachal Pradesh chief minister in 2004.

Apang, who was today summoned to the office of the special investigation cell in Itanagar, was arrested soon after he arrived for a hearing this morning.

He was booked under Sections 120b (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery), 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the IPC, read with B-2 Prevention of the Corruption Act.

“We provided Apang with a set of questionnaires and despite three earlier summons, he appeared before the cell only today. He denied knowledge of facts or persons involved in the scam,” said M.S. Chauhan, an official of the special investigation cell.

The case was forwarded to a special sessions judge at North Lakhimpur in Assam for trial.

Today’s arrest was the result of a recent directive by Gauhati High Court to the investigation cell team to arrest Apang and produce him before the special judge’s court in Lakhimpur today.

The court accused Apang of involvement in irregularities in distribution of goods under the public distribution system, following a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Bamag Anthony, chairman of Arunachal Citizens’ Rights, an NGO, and Domin Loya, a social activist, in 2005.

Loya is currently the general secretary of the Arunachal Pradesh unit of the Trinamul Congress.

Apang, who served the state for nearly 23 years, was the second longest serving chief minister of any state in the country after former chief minister of Bengal, late Jyoti Basu.

A source in Lakhimpur sessions court said Apang’s bail plea was rejected.

A bench headed by Justice Pradeep Gogoi sent him to seven days’ police custody in Itanagar.

Chauhan, who handled the investigation since the PIL was filed against Apang in 2005, said: “The probe cell chargesheeted altogether 50 persons, some of whom belonged to Assam, who were found guilty in PDS anomalies. Thirty persons were arrested while the rest are yet to be arrested. The cell found Apang’s involvement in grave irregularities and arrested him. It took almost a year to gather all documentary evidence against Apang to implicate him. We arrested him only after gathering every detail and only after arriving at a conclusion that he was involved in the largescale corruption in PDS.”

During the course of the hearing, Apang denied his involvement in the case.

A member of the Apang family said it was wrong to implicate him as the PDS started in 1999 when Mukut Mithi was the chief minister.

The counsel for Apang, K. Ete, who was present in the office, took exception to the manner in which Apang was arrested.

“He was summoned for hearing by the special investigation cell this morning at its office in Chimpu. Neither he nor we had any idea that he would be arrested in this fashion. I term it totally as an illegal arrest and protest,” Ete said.