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The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) on Sunday refused to cancel the third phase of teachers’ recruitment test (TRE), held on Friday, for want of credible evidence, but the Economic Offence Unit (EOU) has stuck to its stand that the questions were out a day before the exam and it could catch the beneficiaries red hand from a place at Karbigahiya locality in Patna.
TRE 3.0 Paper Leak: The EOU has asked BPSC to keep documents, equipment secured for probe (Getty Images/iStockphoto) ) A senior official of the EOU said that the search for the kingpin of the racket is in, and till that happens, the BPSC has been asked to secure all documents and computers related to TRE-3, which would be required in the course of the probe. “We have also requested the BPSC to appoint a nodal officer not related to the exam so that we can gather necessary information from him,” he added.
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The EOU has also set up a special investigation team to carry out a thorough investigation, as the ambit of the probe could grow and also reach the BPSC to reach the genesis of the question leak, which has come as an embarrassment for the state government on the eve of elections.
“The man, Vishal, nabbed from Karbigahiya, was also arrested in connection with Balasore question leak. He was nabbed on March 14 with pen drive carrying questions, and the next day, based on his clues, raids were conducted in Hazaribagh at 5 am. A large number of answer scripts with questions were recovered from the second batch of students present there, while the first batch had already left. The questions matched with what was there in the examination,” he added.
EOU ADG NH Khan said that the pen drives, laptops, and mobile phones seized would be sent for forensic examination to track the chain of events leading to the organised network making available questions in advance for huge monetary considerations.
“The electronic evidence would be corroborated to reach the kingpin, who may have access to confidential information. We are also tracking the money trail to know where the money landed by whatever means. He also may have used moles to gather money. All that is under investigation, but we have clear evidence of questions leaking,” he added.
The BPSC had issued a communique on Sunday, a day after the Economic Offence Unit (EOU) said after preliminary investigation that the question papers of TRE had reached an organised gang a day in advance through a pen drive, without elaborating who copied the original questions in it.
“The commission has sought credible evidence from the EOU regarding the alleged question leak prior to the exam. Once that is provided, the situation will be reviewed in that light to take any regarding the fate of the examination. The commission got first information about the question leak at 2.30 pm on March 15 only, while the first sitting was over by 12.30 pm,” said the communique.
EOU, on the other hand, had maintained that it started the investigations into the alleged question leak on Wednesday itself following a tip-off that a gang had made available solved answers with questions to the aspirants.
