Bihar toppers, college director arrested; Answersheets may have been changed

Patna, Jun 8: The police have arrested the four toppers of the Bihar board examination and the director of the VIR college on Wednesday.

The four arrested students are: Sourabh Shrestha, Rahul Kumar, Ruby Rai and Shalini, the 'toppers' in the exam, whose unfamiliarity with their chosen subjects of study was exposed on local television and revealed what was going on.

The Special Investigation Team, probing the Bihar exam controversy, has also detained three persons considered close to Bihar School Examination Board Chairman 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."

A first information report was lodged on Monday night after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ordered an investigation.

The SIT raided sites in Vaishali, Muzaffarpur and Patna to arrest Amit Kumar 'Bachcha' Rai, principal of the Vishnu Rai 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."

Unconfirmed reports said BSEB chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh submitted his resignation to the principal secretary of the state education department late on Tuesday night.

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.