Bhubaneswar/Cuttack, March 16: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today assured the Assembly that stringent action would be initiated against those involved in the leakage of question papers for the constable recruitment test.

The examination scheduled on March 14 for 1,370 posts of constables was cancelled at the eleventh hour following reports of the question paper leak.

The assurance came from the chief minister after the Assembly had witnessed repeated adjournments on the issue as the Opposition members were demanding Naveen's statement on the incident.

Even Speaker Niranjan Pujari directed the government to make a statement.

Naveen told the House that the test was cancelled to maintain transparency in the examination process. It would be held shortly, he said.

The Opposition members demanded the investigation be handed over to an independent agency, arguing that the crime branch, being a part of Odisha police, could not hold fair probe against its own system.

Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati tried to climb the Speaker's podium to press for the demand but the security personnel of the House prevented him.

Leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra said: 'When the police are accused of doing the mischief, how can it conduct a probe against its own system? It is unfortunate that when the Opposition members tried to raise the issue, they were not allowed, but the ruling party members were permitted to do it. This forced the Congress members to rush to the Well to lodge their protest.'

Bahinipati said: 'The vigilance investigation that had started 12 years ago on large-scale corruption in recruitment of constables during 2003-2004 is yet to be over. The chief minister should be held responsible for the leak. A CBI inquiry into the question paper leak can only throw light on bigwigs involved in it.'

On the other hand, the BJP demanded the chief minister's resignation. BJP legislature party leader Basant Panda said: 'Question papers are being leaked regularly.'

However, BJD spokesperson Amar Prasad Satpathy said: 'The chief minister is concerned about the question paper leak. His name is being unnecessarily dragged into it.'

In another development, the crime branch has formed two special teams to expedite the probe. Additional director-general of police (crime branch) B.K. Sharma said: 'We are looking into all possible angles. We will try to find out how it happened.'

Preliminary investigation revealed that the security seals on the question paper packets were intact in most of the district. This has triggered suspicion about some insiders' hand in the leakage.

The crime branch team has started investigation in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Kendrapara today.

A forensic team also inspected the State Selection Board office to ascertain whether the confidentiality was compromised at the source of origin.

An official said a detailed probe would be conducted with focus on checking the source where the question papers were made and packed. Efforts would be made to ascertain if the leak had occurred during transportation and delivery to the exam venues.

Besides, the possible role of some professional racketeers will also be investigated.