Board ex-chief, wife arrested in Varanasi

VARANASI: Former chairman of the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh, and his wife Usha Sinha, a former legislator, were arrested in Varanasi

VARANASI: Former chairman of the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh, and his wife Usha Sinha, a former legislator, were arrested in Varanasi on Monday in connection with the Bihar toppers’ scam, police said.

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Another person was arrested with them but the police remained tight-lipped about his identity.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Bihar police arrested the two from Bhelupur area here when they were on their morning walk.

Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh is an accused in the scam and his wife is a co-accused. The couple had gone into hiding after their name figured in the scam, police said.

The SIT sleuths questioned the couple and took them to Patna after completing legal formalities for the transit remand.

Sources claimed the couple left Bihar and reached Varanasi soon after their alleged involvement in the scam was exposed. After a tip-off, a Bihar SIT team reached Varanasi late on Sunday night and contacted the district police.

Last week, a Patna civil court had issued an arrest warrant against Singh, who until recently had headed the BSEB that conducts the Class 10 and 12 examinations in Bihar.

So far, 10 persons have been arrested in the case, police said.

The scam surfaced after a TV channel showed a sting in which two Class 12 toppers could not answer even elementary questions about the subjects they‘ topped’ in.

The merit list of Class 12 examinees was allegedly manipulated in favour of students who paid bribes.