Bihar: Hunt on for ‘miscreants’ who tried to cancel BPSC exam | Chaos on cam

Two FIRs have been filed over the chaos at BAPU exam centre on December 13 in Bihar's Patna, officials said on Monday, adding that teams were formed to identify and arrest the miscreants.

Videos of the incident surfaced on social media, showing a group of people storming Bapu Pariksha Parisar in what police said was an attempt to get the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) exam cancelled.

The attempt was thwarted, Patna District Magistrate said on Monday, adding that two FIRs were registered.

On December 13, the protesting candidates had complained about irregularities during an exam conducted by the BPSC.

The candidates alleged that the question paper had been leaked and that there were delays in distributing the papers.

Several candidates claimed they received the question paper nearly an hour late, while others alleged that answer papers were torn, fuelling concerns about a possible leak.

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"Half of the students did not even get the OMR sheet or the question booklet for 15 minutes.... Many got the question booklet one hour late, and it was snatched away in 10 minutes... Where the capacity of students is more than 200, why were only 175 question papers brought?" news agency ANI quoted an aspirant.

"We discovered that the question paper has been leaked... Teachers were threatening us to stay quiet... There is not one BPSC exam that has not been rigged... The seal of the question booklet packet was torn... An aspirant's answer sheet was found in the toilet," the student added.

Exam leak allegations

BPSC Chairman, Parmar Ravi Manubhai, denied allegation, saying that the commission did not receive any complaints on irregularities.

"...The exam was conducted smoothly in all the districts of Bihar, including Patna. At a centre in Patna, the commission received information about some students creating a ruckus. The commission immediately contacted the people waiting at the centre and deputed 2 officers of the commission," BPSC Chairman Parmar Ravi Manubhai said at a press conference.

Meanwhile, Patna DM Chandrashekhar Singh was caught on camera slapping a BPSC aspirant who was among a group of students protesting alleged question paper leak at the centre in Patna on December 13.

Videos showed Singh, flanked by police personnel, having an argument with one of the students, gesturing to him to leave and then taking a few steps forward and slapping him. The DM was also seen shouting at the other protesters.

Asked about his actions, Singh said the road was blocked by the protesters and two people, including a candidate, needed to be sent to the hospital. He said his intention was not to hurt anyone.