The Bihar high secondary exam toppers scandal may reveal some big names during the ongoing probe as those arrested so far have made many startling revelations. With the arrest of chairman of Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) lalkeshwar Prasad Singh and his wife Usha Sinha, a former MlA of JD(U), the Special Investigation Team (SIT) is looking for their sons and son-in-law, who had their role in the scam and had made this scandal a family affair.
lalkeshwar and Usha’s two sons who are bankers have gone underground fearing arrest. One of their sons is in Patna employed with a commercial bank and played a key role in depositing Rs54 crore while another son is posted in london with the branch of an Indian bank. Both of them are absconding after the arrest of their parents. SIT chief and Patna SSP Manu Maharaaj said the court would be moved for warrant of arrest for the younger son posted in Patna. He said lalkeshwar had an account in the bank branch where his younger son is posted and deposited Rs54 crore there. The bank would also be asked to explain the deposition of such a huge amount which helped his son getting promotion. The police also tried to contact the elder son in london but in vein.
The couple’s son-in-law Vivek Kumar whose proximity with the scandal is beyond doubt is also absconding as police are looking after him with an arrest warrant. An IAS officer holding the post of Deputy Development Commissioner is also under suspicion whose name cropped up during the probe. There could be one more name of an IAS officer having role in the scam. This revelation was made by the district education officer of Vaishali Satyanaraian Prasad who has been arrested. He revealed that the exam centre for the candidates of the Vishun Rai College had been changed at the orders of that IAS officer from original Gurukul School, Hajipur to GA Inter School.
The SSP said the SIT was trying to find out at whose order the exam centre was changed in the last moment. “It is illegal to change exam centre without written order,” said Maharaaj.
It has also been revealed that last year the education department committee had recommended the derecognition of Vishun Rai College but the then BSEN chairman lakeshwar just ignored the report. The former secretary of BSEB Sriniwas Tiwary, who is in police net, told the SIT that last year too intermediate exam in that college had been rigged and about one hundred students of that college had secured very high marks. But with college founder Bachcha Rai extremely close to both lalkeshwar and Usha, the report against the college was put under the carpet. It is interesting to note that most of the former employees of the BSEB and others who are under arrest and being interrogated have put the entire blame of the running scam on lalkeshwar, who the SIT believes, worked under the influence of his politician wife.