Bihar arts topper arrested, result stands cancelled

Bihar intermediate arts topper Ganesh Kumar was arrested here on Friday night. A case of forgery has been registered against him at the Kotwali police station for concealing his age.

Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) chairman Anand Kishore confirmed the arrest, which took place after it was discovered that Kumar was 42 years, and not 24 years as was mentioned in his application.

Kumar, who studied in the Ram Nandan Singh Jagdeep Narayan Higher Secondary School in Samastipur, topped the arts stream with 82.6%.

His result has been cancelled for forging the documents. He had mentioned his date of birth as June 2, 1993. But BSEB sources said Kumar, a native of Jharkhand, was actually 42 years as he was born in 1975.Kumar is married and is the father of two children, a charge he initially denied.

Following the cancellation of Kumar’s result, Neha of Madhubani was declared the arts topper.

The forgery came to light after mediamen quizzed him about music as he had scored 83% in the subject.  “From 2009 to 2014, he ran a chit fund company in Jharkhand. When the company became bankrupt and investors started baying for his blood, he fled to Bihar and took shelter in Samastipur where he got himself admitted in a school where attendance was not an issue. He got enrolled in intermediate from where he ‘topped’ in a questionable manner,” the source told DH.

Surprisingly, the arrest came a day after Kishore stoutly defended Kumar, saying, “Ganesh has performed well. I have personally checked his copies. There will be no change in the toppers’ list.”