Patna police files chargesheet against 32 people in Bihar toppers scam

Patna:  The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Bihar Police probing the topper's scam on Monday filed a chargesheet against 32 people, police said. Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj, who is heading the SIT, told the media that the chargesheet was filed in Patna civil court. "A chargesheet of over 4,000 page was filed against former Chairman of Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh, his wife and former JDU legislator Usha Sinha, Bachcha Rai, the alleged kingpin of the scam and former director and principal of V.R. College in Bihar's Vaishali district and former board secretary Harharnath Jha," Maharaj said. Singh, Sinha, Rai and Jha are currently in jail after being arrested in the case. Maharaj said 20 of the 32 people are government employees and 12 others include four fake toppers. "Nine of the 32 people are still absconding," he said. According to the police, last month a special juvenile court here granted bail to Ruby Rai, an accused in Bihar toppers scam. Ruby had topped this year's Class XII examination conducted by the BSEB in humanities stream. She got into trouble after a sting by a TV channel showed her giving ludicrous answers to elementary questions related to her subjects. Class XII science stream topper Saurabh Shreshtha was also caught on camera giving wrong answers to basic science questions. The sting suggested that the "toppers" might have used cheating and fraud to achieve their ranks. Both Ruby and Saurabh belonged to V.R. College in Vaishali district.