Cuttack, April 10: A fresh public interest litigation (PIL) filed in Orissa High Court has sought direction for a CBI probe into the High School Certificate (HSC) Examination-2012 question paper theft case, which the CID and crime branch have been investigating since March 23 last year.

The PIL wants a CBI probe citing alleged failure of the CID and crime branch to make any breakthrough even a year later.

Akshaya Kumar Das, 65, of Cuttack city and former president of Ravenshaw College Students’ Union (1971-72) filed the PIL.

“After a preliminary hearing, the division bench of Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice B.N. Mohapatra, before which the PIL came up for hearing yesterday, directed the CID and crime branch to submit a status report in the high court on the investigation, along with the case diary,” petitioner counsel Ajay Mohanty told The Telegraph today.

The annual HSC Examination-2012 for nearly 4.66 lakh regular students in the state was suspended on March 21 after it was found that question papers of the remaining exams were stolen from one of the centres, Bhagawati Bidyapith at Kakatpur in Puri district.

That day, the students had appeared for the English paper, but that examination was also cancelled.

Later, the state board of secondary education declared fresh examination dates after deferring it by 20 days.

A day after the matriculation examination was deferred, the state government ordered a probe by the CID and crime branch into the incident. After the examination was deferred by 20 days, Das had filed a PIL seeking the direction of the state government to pay adequate compensation to the affected students and a direction for the CID and crime branch teams to take legal action within a stipulated period.

The high court had disposed of the PIL on September 24, 2012, directing the petitioner to file a representation to the commissioner-cum-secretary of the school and mass education department for looking into the allegations and taking a decision.

Das filed the representation on October 14, 2012. The commissioner-cum-secretary of school and mass education department disposed of the representation on December 19, 2012, stating:

“On receipt of the crime branch inquiry report, appropriate action will be taken and exemplary punishment will be given to the persons found guilty in the matter.”

Subsequently, Das filed the fresh PIL seeking a CBI probe.

Human rights activist Prabir Kumar Das had also filed a PIL seeking direction for a probe by the CBI into the question paper theft case.

The high court refused to order the probe on September 5, 2012, but directed the CID and crime branch to expedite the investigation and submit a final report within 40 days.

The CID and crime branch had formed three teams to investigate the case with an officer of the rank of deputy superintendent of police as the investigating officer.

Investigation is in progress. The investigating agency had, on April 25, 2012, announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh for information on the culprits.