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Journalism of Courage
BPSC Chairman Parmar Ravi Manubhai Friday refuted allegations of a paper leak made by a section of candidates during the prelims of the 70th Integrated Combined Competitive Examination (CCE), 2024, at Patna’s Bapu Pariksha Bhavan.
“There is no leak in the BPSC (Bihar Public Service Commission) exam. We received information around 12:30 pm of some students creating a ruckus in the exam, however, it was done after all students were seated in the exam room and had no contact with the outside world,” Manubhai told indianexpress.com.
“Some anti-social elements, in the garb of being students, started snatching question papers from the invigilators when they were distributing them and started shouting that the question paper had already gone viral on the internet. Students who have been sitting in the exam room for the past 15-20 minutes would have no way of knowing that the question paper has gone viral unless they wanted to create a ruckus,” the chairman said.
“After this, they ran out of the exam room with the envelope containing question papers and threw it to the other side of the boundary to give it to some people who were waiting outside the centre. They could not upload the question papers on the internet from inside the centre as there were strong jammers and no phones… they started creating a ruckus and photocopies of the paper were made by 1:10 pm. We have CCTV footage available from the centre, which will be investigated and strong criminal action will be taken against people who have tried to create problems for all the candidates,” the chairman added.
On social media, allegations of paper leak have gained traction, with aspirants and families demanding an immediate investigation. Some have accused officials of failing to prevent malpractices, while others suspect the ‘leak’ was orchestrated to benefit specific candidates.
Some students also claimed that unidentified individuals entered the examination halls and threatened candidates.
“I was taking the exam when around 12.15 pm, I heard noise from outside the exam hall,” a 29-year-old aspirant who was taking the exam from the Bapu Pariksha Bhavan said, adding that the invigilator closed the doors upon hearing the news.
The aspirant added that a few minutes after the noise, some candidates broke open the door and threatened them not to attempt any more questions.
“My paper was snatched and I could not take the exam. I came out from the exam hall by 1 pm,” said the aspirant who hails from West Champaran district.
However, a 32-year-old candidate said around 300 aspirants from one exam hall at the same centre were not provided with any question paper despite repeated requests to the authorities at the centre. Those students who were not provided with the question papers created a ruckus and demanded that no one should be allowed to take the test.
The incident has drawn sharp criticism from student groups and parents, who are calling for a re-examination and a thorough probe into the alleged paper leak and security breach.
The BPSC conducts the CCE annually to recruit Group A and B officers in various state government departments. This year, 2,035 vacancies may be filled up.
