Senior IAS officer and chairman of the Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC) Sudhir Kumar was on Friday arrested by the SIT of the Patna police probing the question paper leak scam. The State IAS body protested Mr. Kumar’s arrest while the Opposition parties demanded a CBI probe into the scam. Mr. Kumar, a 1987 batch IAS officer, was arrested along with four of his family members from Hazaribagh in neighbouring Jharkhand. Earlier, BSSC secretary Parmeshwar Ram was arrested and sent to jail in the same case. During his interrogation, Mr. Ram had allegedly named several Ministers, MLAs and bureaucrats of the State involved in the scam. The SIT led by Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj has so far arrested over two dozen persons. “Many more arrests could be made as investigation is still going on”, said Mr. Maharaj on Friday.
The question papers for the examination for the appointment of State government clerks and assistants were leaked and had gone viral on social media.
Earlier, Mr. Sudhir Kumar, known as an upright and honest IAS officer of the State, had told journalists that “favouritism and recommendations” have been the norm in BSSC appointments and he used to get regular calls from several politicians.
But Mr. Maharaj told journalists: “Altogether five persons from the BSSC chairman’s family had appeared for the exam…when we arrested his nephew he spilled the beans. We’ve strong evidence to prove the chairman’s involvement in the question paper leak scam.”
