Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday said that the guilty in the intermediate exam toppers row would not be spared and the matter would also be investigated from “criminal angle.”
A three-member committee was formed to probe the irregularities in the intermediate exams and other aspects related to the Board examinations.
“I am going to seek more information on this issue as cancelling the results and other things are not enough. A thorough probe is needed which may also take a criminal angle … nobody will be spared,” Mr. Kumar told journalists here.
“Last year, a single picture of mass cheating had prompted us to take strict measures. The unfair means in Class X Board exam were completely checked this year, and this issue of intermediate exam too will do the same,” he said.
Panel chief
On Sunday a three-member committee was formed under the chairmanship of retired judge of the Patna High Court Ghanshyam Prasad. The other members are retired judge G.P. Shrivastva and retired IPS officer Mithu Prasad.
“The committee has been asked to submit its report as soon as possible,” said Bihar Examination Board chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh.
Education Minister Ashok Chaudhary said once the committee report was ready “whoever found guilty will not be spared.”
‘A blot on State’
“It was after a lot of hard work we had been able to check mass cheating in Board exams and had changed the image of the State but this issue had come as a blot … there must have been connivance of some schools, teachers and Board officials in such irregularities”, Mr. Chaudhary told The Hindu . Earlier, he apprehended that some “education mafias” might be working in connivance with Board officials to execute such irregularities.
Affiliation suspended
The Board on Saturday suspended the affiliation of the controversial Vishun Rai College in Vaishali district, from where most of the intermediate toppers had come.
The college — owned by RJD leader Amit Kumar alias Bachcha Rai who is said to be close to party chief Lalu Prasad — has been infamous for getting top rank for students.
Both the humanities and science stream toppers Ruby Rai and Saurabh Shresth too were from this college.
