Bihar toppers scam: Board chairman quits as fraud unravels

New twist in the Bihar toppers controversy.
M I Khan reports from Patna.

Bihar School Examination Board Chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh resigned from his post on Wednesday, June 8, after his name cropped up in the ongoing investigation into alleged irregularities in the results of the toppers in the Class 12 arts and science examinations.

The development comes a day after a first information report was registered against four students -- Ruby Rai, Sourabh Shrestha, Rahul Kumar and Shalini whose unfamiliarity with their chosen subjects of study was exposed on local television and revealed what was going on -- and Vishun Roy College director-cum principal Amit Kumar 'Bachcha' Rai.

The Special Investigation Team, probing the Bihar exam controversy, on Wednesday detained eight people from Patna and Vaishali districts for interrogation.

Three of the detained individuals are said to be close to Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh.

"SIT teams raided several places on Tuesday night," a police officer told this correspondent, "The raids re still going on to arrest others involved in the racket."

An FIR was lodged on Monday night after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ordered an investigation.

The SIT raided sites in Vaishali, Muzaffarpur and Patna to arrest 'Bachcha' Rai, principal of the Vishun Roy College, where the four toppers of the Class 12 science and arts streams studied.

"Bachcha Rai is absconding," one police officer said, "the police raided his college in Vaishali and seized documents."

The FIR lodged at Patna's Kotwali police station alleges fraud and machination by the V R college to influence the results of the Class 12 exam.

"The answer books of the toppers appeared to have been changed, which makes it a case of fraud," a police officer said.

According to the FIR, the exam centre for V R College students was located at the G A High School in Hajipur, the Vaishali district headquarters.

All the answer books from Vaishali went for evaluation to Arrah and Bhabhua, except for the V R College which were evaluated at the Rajendra Nagar High School in Patna.

"That naturally raised questions," the police officer said.

• How Bihar colleges 'manufacture' toppers
• Why Bihar students are putting money in their answersheets