Ranjit Don’s empire was not built overnight, but over a decade with help from politicians, bureaucrats, police officers and, above all, doctors.
During raids, the CBI found a diary which named recipients of his ‘magnanimity’. The details of the Bihar police’s previous investigations have been sought. Ranjit’s links with the high and mighty is under probe.
On February 23, 1999, DP Ojha, then Bihar’s additional Vigilance Commissioner (and now its police chief), asked his bosses to hand a medical exam question paper leak case to the CBI. His letter said almost 60 per cent of the seats in MBBS and post-graduate courses were sold off while five per cent of the seats were offered free of cost to the wards of influential people.
A month later, Chief Minister Rabri Devi recommended a CBI inquiry, but it did not take it up as it was too busy. The CBI’s refusal has now become a weapon against the Centre.
In July 2002, the Nalanda police came tantalisingly close to busting Ranjit when they arrested ten persons from a Biharsharif hotel with the solved question papers for the State Bank Probationary Officers recruitment exam, to be held the next day.
According to Nalanda SP Amit Lodha, the police filed a charge sheet against the accused but they were later released on bail.
{{/usCountry}}According to Nalanda SP Amit Lodha, the police filed a charge sheet against the accused but they were later released on bail.
{{/usCountry}}In 2000, Ranjit’s name had also figured in the loot of question papers of the All-India Medical Entrance Examinations, conducted by the Central Board of School Examination (CBSE), in Patna but the case was hushed up at the behest of a senior police officer.
Sources say whenever Ranjit was in trouble, he either heavily bribed policemen or promised their wards admission free of cost. Many found this offer irresistible.