Patna: The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) has cancelled the preliminary test (PT) exam–a qualifier test to the 70th combined competitive examination–which was held at the Bapu examination centre in Patna.
BPSC chairman Parmar Ravi Manubhai attributed the cancellation of PT held at the Bapu centre only, where over 10,000 students took the exam, to chaos and mismanagement. He said that a fresh date for the PT would be announced soon.
BPSC aspirants at the Bapu exam centre had resorted to protest, alleging irregularities in the conduct of the examinations on December 13 and claimed that papers of the PT were leaked. The police had to apply mild force to bring order at the centre. In the course of maintaining order at the centre, Patna district magistrate Chandra Shekhar Singh had slapped a student, the video clip of which went viral on the social media.
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Officials of the BPSC said that the commission had decided to cancel the PT at Bapu centre on the basis of a report submitted by the Patna DM regarding chaos and mismanagement. Disorder at the examination centre got triggered when question paper in a classroom ran short in number vis-a-vis attendance of the aspirants.
Talking to reporters, BPSC chairman Manubhai said that the PT had to be cancelled to safeguard interest of genuine candidates. He said that a fresh date of the re-test would be announced soon and results of the PT would be announced simultaneously without normalisation.
It was believed that some candidates might also have engaged in misconduct and cheating taking advantage of the pandemonium created by miscreants at the centre. “There is no complaints of irregularities at other centres, hence PT held at other centres are not be cancelled,” added the chairman.
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EOU to act against coaching institute in BPSC TRE-3 paper leak case
Three coaching institutions are on radar of the economic offences unit (EOU) of Bihar police for their suspected role in the question paper leak of the BPSC-TRE-3 exam, which was conducted between July 19 – 22. Many evidences are said to have been found against the institutes involved in the paper leak.
EOU DIG Manavjit Singh Dhillon said in a press conference on Monday that ‘many people from Nalanda are involved in the paper leak. “The profile of the accused is being prepared. We are working on identifying the associates and role of their family members,” he added.
The DIG said that ‘the ban on the arrest of NEET paper leak mastermind Sanjeev Mukhiya has been lifted. If the name of any person comes up in the exam leak case, then his entire property will be investigated. The accused person or institute will be sentenced to 10 years and a fine of ₹1-10 crores will also be recovered.
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Manavjit Singh Dhillon said that EOU has investigated 10 paper leak cases from 2012 till now. In this, 545 accused have been arrested. Charge sheet has been filed against 249 accused. In view of the paper leak cases in Bihar, Model Act 2024 was brought, after which the CHO paper leak case came to light. In this case, the accused have been charged under this Act. EOU is providing consultancy to the agencies which conduct exams on behalf of the Bihar government. Now EOU will inspect the online centres before the commencement of the exams. Everything from computers to servers will be inspected. If the institutes or centres conducting the exams are found to be involved in the paper leak case, their movable and immovable assets will also be confiscated.
The DIG of EOU further said that a database of 170 accused involved in all the question paper leaks has been prepared so far. Apart from Bihar, profiles have been prepared by taking details from Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra police.
It includes public servants and non-public servants. A case will be registered against the public servants under the PC Act. Whereas, in the cases of non-public servants, action will be taken under the new Model Act.
