Ahmedabad, Jan 29 (IANS): The Gujarat Police's Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Sunday said that it has arrested 16 accused - six from Bihar, eight from Gujarat, and one each from Odisha and Delhi - in the Gujarat Panchayat Service Selection Board (GPSSB) junior clerk paper leak case.

Due to paper leak, junior clerk exams on Sunday morning were cancelled by the GPSSB, affecting 9,53,000 candidates, who had filed applications for the 1,150 vacant posts.

The ATS, in a press statement, said: "ATS had kept a close eye and watch on those involved and arrested by the CBI in the paper leak case, and through human intelligence and technical surveillance, the team found that Pradip Nayak, Ketan Barot, and Bhaskar Chaudhary, who are arrested in the past, are going to make a deal and sell junior clerk paper to aspiring candidates in Vadodara. All three were arrested from Vadodara late on Saturday."

The statements said that Pradip Nayak had lured Jeet Nayak of Odisha to sneak off one question paper from the K L Hi-tech Printers, where he was working. He stole the question paper and handed it over to Pradip Nayak, who shared a copy with his accomplices Morari, Kamlesh, Firoz, Sarvesh Mintu Kumar, and Prabhat, all in Bihar, and asked to sell the paper in their channel.

Mintu Kumar had contacted Vadodara-based coaching class owner Chaudhary, and he, along with Barot, planned to sell it to their students in their respective coaching classes.

Jeet Nayak was arrested from Hyderabad on Sunday and is being brought to Ahmedabad.

All accused are likely to be produced before the court on Monday.