Former Bihar board chairperson, wife arrested in toppers scandal
Former Bihar education board chairperson Lalkeswar Prasad Singh and wife Usha Sinha have been arrested for an examination scandal that shook the state, police said on Monday.
Former Bihar education board chairperson Lalkeswar Prasad Singh and wife Usha Sinha have been arrested for an examination scandal that shook the state, police said on Monday.
A controversy broke out last month when a television channel showed Rubi Ray - Bihar’s topper in political science - was unable to answer the most basic questions as allegations of large-scale irregularities in the exam system surfaced.
Singh, alleged to be the kingpin of the intermediate results scandal, and his wife had been on the run since June 9. Authorities issued a lookout notice for the couple after the court issued an arrest warrant. They were changing their locations frequently even as police kept up pressure, officials said.
They will be produced at a court in Varanasi before being taken to Patna on transit remand.
Pressure on Singh and Usha, a former legislator of the ruling Janata Dal (United), mounted after the arrest of Bachcha Rai, the director-cum-principal of a college in Vaishali district that came under the scanner.
The college allegedly produced toppers in different streams by using unfair means in connivance of Bihar School Examination Board officials. Singh, who quit after the allegations, is accused of giving undue favours to the institute.
After the arrest, police said they had “specific information” about Singh and Usha’s whereabouts in Varanasi.
“The police had information and it acted on it swiftly. The police team was camping in Benaras for the last few days to track them,” PK Thakur, Bihar director general of police said.
An official, who is part of the investigation, said the interrogation of the two could unravel the entire nexus and modus operandi of the exam scam racket.
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