Bihar recruitment board chairman held for exam racket scam

Mangalore Today News Network

Patna, Feb 24, 2017: Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC) chairman has been reportedly arrested in from Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh in connection with a question paper leak case.

 

Though the police was yet to confirm the arrest of Sudhir Kumar, a 1987-batch IAS officer, police sources said four of his family members had been detained.

They said the police would produce Kumar in a Hazaribagh court and seek transit remand to bring him to Patna.

The case pertains to the alleged leak of question papers for a test conducted by BSSC for the recruitment of 17,000 panchayat secretaries, revenue workers and clerks across the state.

The matter came to light when handwritten answers of 127 out of the 150 questions surfaced in public domain hours before the first two phases of the examination were held on January 29 and February 5, forcing the government to cancel the exams after a preliminary probe confirmed that the “sanctity of the exam had been compromised.”

Police had quizzed Kumar earlier on February 13. Not satisfied with his response, the police had given him a written questionnaire the following day.

The special investigation team of the Patna police had on Wednesday arrested Vinit Kumar Agarwal, owner of Confisec Printers, and its manager Ajay Kumar, from Ahmedabad in Gujarat and brought him to Patna on transit remand.

Police suspect the printing press could have been the source of the leak. Some high profile politicians are also believed to be involved in the scam. Senior BSSC officials had said that they used to get phone calls from politicians, hinting at political pressure.

The SIT had picked up nearly 30 persons, including BSSC secretary Parmeshwar Ram and a computer operator, who were arrested two days after the question paper leak ahead of the February 5 exam.

The home department had earlier expressed its helplessness to ban internet services on exam days at places where exams were being conducted, with special secretary (home), Jitendra Kumar, saying suspending internet services in the entire state merely on the pretext of preventing rumours, would not be legally tenable under section 144 of the CrPC.

The BSSC chairman had on January 31, two days after the first phase of examination, written to the home secretary seeking the ban, saying it would help prevent rumours of question paper leak on social media and help control law and order problem and discontent among candidates.

The chairman had provided a copy of the letter written to home department to SIT after the scam surfaced.

The IAS Association convened an emergent meeting in Patna on Friday morning, following Kumar’s arrest. The members, however, refused to share details of the meeting.

Sudhir Kumar was also Bihar home secretary during former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s tenure.