BSSC paper leak: Sudhir Kumar played key role, says SIT

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has, however, asked the SIT not to be “cowed down by any pressure”.

SSP Manu Maharaj, who heads the SIT, told The Indian Express on Wednesday that Kumar “breached confidentiality about the question papers” and provided them to seven of his relatives 13 days before the second phase of the four-phase exam.

The exams were for recruitment of clerks and assistants. Maharaj added that as BSSC chairman, Kumar was the sole custodian of question papers and OMR sheets.

“When the leak surfaced after the February 5 exam, Kumar categorically denied the leak and we believed him. But when he gave false names of two paper setters, we were alarmed. In BSSC, no person other than the chairman knows where questions and OMR sheets are printed. We later found out they were printed in Gujarat.”

The SSP said subsequent investigation and arrest of Kumar’s nephew Ashish, who took the exam, revealed how he and some others reached Kumar’s Hazaribagh residence on January 23 and got a question paper. “Five relatives of Sudhir Kumar who wrote the exam were Ashish and Arun (nephews), Manju Devi (brother’s wife), Hariom and Ranjan (sons of Manju’s aunt). Names of two more relatives are with us,” the officer said but did not reveal them.

Last week, Kumar was arrested at his Hazaribagh residence. His brother Awadhesh and his wife Manju were held in Hajipur. Kumar’s nephew Ashish, a “mediator” Sajjad Ahmed and BSSC IT manager Niti Ranjan Prasad were arrested in Patna.

Maharaj said Kumar’s father Radha Prasad is also under the scanner. “Ashish has claimed that he got the paper from his grandfather Radha Prasad. We are investigating further,” said the SSP.

He said Ashish had confessed to involvement in several question paper leaks.

Explaining how the question papers were leaked, Maharaj said: “After the question papers reached Kumar’s relatives, it was Ranjan who thought of selling it to a candidate for Rs 6 lakh. Later, Ashish joined him.”

He added that the phone details of Kumar suggested that he was in constant touch with Ashish and the other relatives. “We are studying his monetary transactions to know if he or his family benefited from the leak. We are also trying to find out if Kumar influenced any question setter to leak the paper.”

Responding to the demand of Bihar IAS officers to hand over the investigation to the CBI, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said: “Seeking a CBI investigation has now become a fashion.

We have to trust our police. Also, the Opposition BJP must not behave like an investigating agency.”