Bihar toppers scam: Accused Usha Sinha out on bail

Usha Sinha, one of the accused in the Bihar merit list scam, has secured bail from the Patna high court and has been released from Patna’s Beur jail, an official said on Monday.

Beur jail superintendent Rupak Kumar said Sinha was granted bail by the high court three days ago. “As we got the bail papers, the Beur jail administration released her on the same day,” he added.

Sinha, a former Janata Dal(United) MLA and former principal of Ganga Devi College, and her husband Bihar School Examination Board’s (BSEB) ex-chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh, were arrested from Varanasi on June 20. Sinha and Prasad have been accused of tampering with examination copies and evaluation process.

On June 21, a civil court in Patna rejected an interim bail plea of the couple.

The special investigation team (SIT), formed to investigate the case, was on the lookout for the couple. Authorities had also prepared a panel of half a dozen special prosecution officers to handle the case on a priority to have the culprits punished.

Sinha’s release is being seen as a setback for the prosecution.

The merit list scam broke out in May-end this year after BSEB humanities and science toppers, interviewed by TV channels, were unable to answer simple questions. It prompted the state government to order a crackdown on the BSEB, following the merit muddle. An inquiry revealed an organised racket in declaring undeserving persons as toppers.

The BSEB later cancelled the results of a minor girl who was declared as the humanities topper. She grabbed national headlines by claiming she was taught cooking in political science classes. She could barely pronounce her subject, which she referred to as ‘prodikal science’.

She was arrested on June 25 after she came to appear in a retest and later released on bail on August 1.

On June 4, the BSEB also cancelled the results of two toppers, including Sourabh Shrestha of the science stream, after they failed to prove their merits in a re-test. Sourabh had secured 485 out of 500 in science stream while the arts topper had received 444 marks of 500.

As a clean-up exercise, the examination board has cancelled the affiliation of 124 intermediate colleges and schools in the state for lack of infrastructure, teaching and non-teaching staff and their alleged involvement in unlawful practices.

At least 212 schools are also under the board’s scanner.