EOU arrests 3 in BPSSC havildar instructor examination paper leak | Patna News
Patna: Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police on Friday arrested three persons in connection with the alleged leak of the question paper for the superintendent instructor (havildar instructor) recruitment examination conducted by the Bihar Police Subordinate Services Commission (BPSSC) on July 29.The accused were produced before a court, remanded to judicial custody and sent to Beur Central Jail on Saturday.The arrested accused have been identified as Raj Samadarshi alias Raja (25), a resident of Karsa village under Bikram police station area in Patna district; Abhishek Kumar (21), a resident of Saidpur Rajauli in Vaishali district and a biometric operator; and Nitesh Kumar (28), a biometric supervisor from Katra in Vaishali district.The case was registered at the Economic Offences police station on July 30 under Sections 10 and 11(1) of the Bihar Public Examination Prevention of Unfair Means Act, 2024.According to the EOU, the breakthrough came during the investigation into the Hajipur Town police station case. Investigators received specific information that Raja would appear in the home guard corps service cadre havildar instructor examination held on July 29 at a centre in Hajipur and was planning to use unfair means.Acting on the input, police detained Raja near the Higher Secondary School examination centre in Hajipur. During questioning, he allegedly confessed to cheating in the examination and identified Abhishek as his associate. Raja also reportedly admitted to using unfair means during the assistant education development officer (AEDO) examination conducted in April this year by the BPSC.EOU DIG Manavjit Singh Dhillon said the investigation into the paper leak began during the probe into the AEDO examination case, in which one accused, Mahesh, was arrested.“During questioning, Mahesh revealed that Raja had arranged to obtain the answer key through biometric staff posted at the examination centre,” he told TOI on Saturday.Acting on this information, the EOU tracked Raja and later learnt that he himself would appear as a candidate in the BPSSC havildar instructor examination held on July 29 at a Hajipur centre. A police team kept surveillance around the examination centre and detained Raja after the examination concluded.Dhillon said Raja’s interrogation led to the arrest of co-accused Abhishek and the recovery of the answer key. Investigators also found that the solved answer key had reached biometric supervisor Nitesh’s mobile phone at around 12.21pm, nearly 40 minutes before the examination ended at 1pm.The DIG said the accused had exploited the fact that biometric supervisors are permitted to carry mobile phones inside the examination centres for data synchronisation. According to the investigation, question papers were photographed soon after they were opened, sent outside the centre, solved using artificial intelligence tools, and the answers were then transmitted back to the biometric supervisor, who allegedly passed them on to candidates during biometric verification.Dhillon further said investigators recovered a list of 13 more candidates, identified through their roll numbers, from the accused’s mobile phone. The EOU has sought their details from the BPSSC to verify their identities, examination centres and possible involvement in the racket.Based on the evidence gathered, the EOU registered an FIR against the three arrested accused along with four other named persons. Officials said the investigation is focused on uncovering the entire network allegedly involved in leaking competitive examination papers and those financially benefiting from such illegal activities.
