Bihar's Fake School Topper Scam Gets Money-Laundering Twist

NEW DELHI: Its eyes on the crores that Bihar officials made in last year's topper scam, the Enforcement Directorate on Friday registered a case against eight government officials including principals who face charges of selling marks in board examinations.

The scam came to light last year after the state's arts topper in Class 12 examinations, Ruby Rai, said in a television interview that political science, a subject she virtually aced, teaches cooking. Another student from her junior or intermediate college, who was placed as Bihar's Science topper, was not able to answer elementary questions like the link between water and H20.

A probe by a special team set up by a red-faced Nitish Kumar government revealed how top officials of the Bihar School Examination Board would allegedly arrange to tamper answer sheets of students or give them marks without checking the papers at all. In some cases, answers were also written outside the exam centres. In Ruby Rai's case, a forensic report confirmed that experts had written the examination paper for the topper.

Sources said the Enforcement Directorate, the centre's wing for financial crimes, decided to move in after analysing the reports of the special team set up by the state police.

The Enforcement Directorate has registered a criminal case against eight people including former Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) chairman Lalkeshwar Singh, his wife Usha Sinha and four school principals.

One of them is Bachcha Rai alias Amit Kumar. The state police had found that it wasn't a coincidence that many of the state's toppers were from his school. Bachcha Rai had allegedly bought a property worth Rs 2.5 crore, allegedly out of the money that he had been making for years by selling marks. Earlier this year, he almost got out on bail but the Supreme Court held back this decision on the state government's appeal.