Noose tightens around another IAS officer in Bihar over paper leak scandal

Patna: The noose has tightened around another senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer in the Bihar recruitment body question paper leak scandal now being probed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT).

IAS officer Sudhir Kumar has been in jail for his connection to the scam for the past fortnight.

On Thursday, a SIT team conducted a raid at the office of the Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC), which conducted the now infamous clerical examination, but officer CK Anil was found missing.

The team had asked the officer working as Officer on Special Duty to be present in the office at noon to explain his position but he did not turn up.

It is said the officer has gone underground after his role in the scandal came to light. The police could now treat him as an “absconder” as he failed to turn up before the SIT despite a notice served on him through his colleague. As per reports, the IAS officer has been absconding without taking official leave.

Reports said right now the police have no clues about the whereabouts of the IAS officer nor do the state police have any clues about his official residence. The local media has extensively reported how the Anil never allowed any office staff or driver to come to his residence. “Instead, he would ask the driver to wait for him with his official car at a particular place. That was his daily routine as a result of which none came to know the location of his residence,” reported local media.

The IAS officer is accused of helping the BSSC chairman, Sudhir Kumar, while he absconded after his name figured in the scandal. Anil not only arranged a SIM card for his colleague but also suggested he leave, said a police official investigating the scandal. Police have also charged the absconding officer with deleting some important information from the personal computer of the chairman.

He is the second IAS officer whose name has figured in the question paper scandal. Last month, the SIT arrested Kumar in connection with the scandal. Kumar who along with four relatives was arrested from Hazaribag town in Jharkhand in currently is Phulwari Sharif jail. Now the government has placed him under suspension.

The suspension of the officer came amid repeated demands by the IAS Officers Association to release Kumar and order a CBI probe into the test paper leak. The association people have so far met the Governor, the chief minister and the Bihar Assembly Speaker in support of their demand but failed to grant him any reprieve.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has announced no one will be spared in this scandal. It was the chief minister who cancelled the clerical exam after reports of a question paper leak and then formed a SIT to conduct a thorough investigation into the case. The SIT has so far arrested 34 persons in connection with the scandal.