The Bihar toppers scandal took an unexpected turn with police recovering a 9mm country-made pistol and five live cartridges from the principal’s office of VR College late on Sunday evening.
Students of the college, Ruby Rai and Saurav Shresth, had topped the class XII Bihar School Education Board (BSEB) examination, but were later exposed when they failed to answer elementary academic questions.
Read | Rubi Rai doesn’t appear as Bihar probes its ‘dubious’ Class 12 toppers
Police raided the office and residence of principal Amit Kumar alias Bachcha Roy at Kiratpur village which falls under Bhagwanpur police station of Vaishali district, 35 kms north of Patna.
Apart from the firearm, the special investigation team seized Rs 65,000, computer hard discs, blank admit cards and other incriminating documents that indicate severe irregularities in the conduction of the exam. The raid lasted over nine hours.
Roy has been in police custody since last week after being detained, and already faces charges of manipulation of results and tampering of answer sheets. Now, a case under the Arms Act has also been lodged against him.
{{/usCountry}}Roy has been in police custody since last week after being detained, and already faces charges of manipulation of results and tampering of answer sheets. Now, a case under the Arms Act has also been lodged against him.
{{/usCountry}}Police also arrested Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh, former chairman of the BSEB, and his wife Usha Sinha, for the scandal. Singh is suspected to be the kingpin in the racket which had both college and BSEB officials collude to ensure high scores for the colleges’ students.
Read | Former Bihar board chairperson, wife arrested in toppers scandal
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.