Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor arrested in Patna

Kishor began his fast unto death on January 2 in support of civil service aspirants who have been demanding cancellation of Bihar Public Service Commission examination

Patna: Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor, who had been on a fast unto death at Gandhi Maidan here to press the demand for cancellation of a Bihar PSC exam, was arrested early on Monday, a top official said.

Police personnel removed him and his supporters from the protest site. According to supporters of Kishor, the police took him to Patna AIIMS for a medical examination.

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Talking to PTI, Patna, District Magistrate (DM), Chandrashekhar Singh, said, “Yes, Kishor and his supporters sitting on dharna at Gandhi Maidan, were arrested by the police on Monday morning. They will now be produced before a court”. Their dharna was “illegal”, he said, adding they were holding the sit-in near the restricted site, he added.

The Patna Police had registered a case against Kishor for holding the fast unto death at Gandhi Maidan, a restricted site near Mahatma Gandhi statute, another official said.

Kishor began his fast unto death on January 2 in support of the civil service aspirants who have been demanding the cancellation of Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) examination held on December 13 last year.

However, the BPSC had ordered the retest for a select group of candidates who had appeared in the December 13 exam, which was embroiled over allegations of question paper leak.
The retest was held on Saturday at 22 centres here. Of 12,012 candidates, around 8,111 aspirants had downloaded their admit cards for the re-exam. However, 5,943 candidates appeared for the retest on January 4.

The retest was held peacefully at all centres without report of any misconduct and malpractices, the BPSC said in a statement issued on Saturday.