One of the main accused in connection with Bihar paper leak arrested

The accused, identified as Chandan Kumar Mahto, 33, a native of Jakarpura village under Suryagarha police station in the district, was a part of a gang who were involved in leaking the question papers on October 1

Patna: Police in Bihar’s Lakhisarai on Wednesday arrested one of the main accused in connection with the leak question papers of the examination for recruitment of police constables.

The accused, identified as Chandan Kumar Mahto, 33, a native of Jakarpura village under Suryagarha police station in the district, was a part of a gang who were involved in leaking the question papers on October 1. The district police have arrested 11 accused so far who were present at one of the examination centres at Government Polytechnic College located near Vidyapati Chowk and Daal Patti locality on October 1 while two others managed to flee. We have received a tip-off following interrogation of other accused.

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They have revealed the hideout of Chandan Mahto. We have managed to nab him. He is said to be one of the main setters of the nexus,” SP, Lakhisarai, Pankaj Kumar said. “We have also seized 18 Samsung mobile phones, 2 micro printers and 5 cars and answer sheets from their possession. We have also recovered a phone and four page answer sheets from the possession of Chandan Mahto,” he said. The other accused are identified as Sumit Kumar, 22, Anil Kumar, 28, Pravesh Kumar, 25, Mahendra Kumar, 23, Rohit Raj, 27, Chandan Kumar, 26, Raja Kumar, 20, Abhiraj, 25, Manish Kumar, 24, Channu Kumar, 28, Brajesh Kumar, 26, Rakesh Kumar, 27, and Sherlock Holmes, 26. The police said that the kingpin of the racket has not been identified so far.

The case has been transferred to the Bihar Police’s Economic Offence Unit (EOU), which has registered 67 FIRs in 21 districts and arrested 148 persons including candidates who were involved in cheating as well as setters. The central recruitment council of Bihar Police on Tuesday cancelled the examination of constable following the question papers being leaked.

The examinations for the constable recruitment in two sittings were held across Bihar on October 1. During the examination, 148 accused were arrested on the charge of cheating through Bluetooth devices and other mediums including cheat papers. They were booked under relevant sections of cheating and sent to jail. During preliminary investigation, it appeared that the candidates had obtained question papers and answers sheets on the mobile phones.

A maximum of offenders appeared from Patna, Nawada, Samastipur, Bhojpur, Buxar, Saran, Vaishali, Lakhisarai and other districts. The police officers believe that leaking question papers is part of a well planned conspiracy and an organised gang involved in it.

Hence, the central recruitment council has decided to cancel the examination held on October 1, as well as the examinations scheduled on October 7 and 15 as well.