Tags:
Journalism of Courage
PATNA, APRIL 4: Senior RJD leader and former energy minister Braj Bihari Prasad was today arrested by the CBI on the charge of large-scale malpractice in admissions to engineering colleges in the State in 1996. He was later remanded to judicial custody by Special CBI Judge S K Sharma.
The case had come to light when over a hundred students taking an engineering entrance examination in the State filed a PIL before the Patna High Court. The main accused in the case, Prasad and his associates, were charged with committing massive irregularities in the 1996 Bihar Joint Engineering Entrance Examination. The minister for science and technology at the time, Prasad was believed to have been the mastermind behind the scam.Incidentally, the RJD leader was also an accused in the murder of Samajwadi Party MLA Devendra Dubey on February 23 in Motihari. However, only yesterday, the Bihar Police cleared him of the charge before the Patna High Court, saying the accusations against him were false and fabricated. Today,Prasad was produced before the court around noon and then taken to the Beur Central Jail. Later, however, he suddenly developed high fever and had to be shifted to a hospital.
During the course of its investigation into the exam scandal, the CBI reportedly recovered documents which showed that those who had actually passed the 1996 examination were denied admission. In their place, nearly 145 students were allegedly admitted after they paid huge sums. The High Court later cancelled the admissions of 249 students as their handwritings and the answer-sheets handwritings were different.
