Bihar suspends IAS officer for test paper leak

The Bihar government on Friday suspended an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer for his alleged role in a leakage of question papers, an official said.

"The state government has suspended Sudhir Kumar, Chairman of Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Bihar, a week after he was arrested from neighbouring Jharkhand in connection with a leakage of question papers," a General Administration Department official said.

The department has also issued a notification to this effect.

Kumar, a 1987-batch IAS officer, was arrested along with four of his close relatives from Hazaribagh district.

He had widely been known as a hard working and honest officer.

The Bihar IAS Association has protested against the arrest of Kumar and also demanded a CBI probe into the case.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised the issue of Kumar's arrest in the ongoing budget session of the state assembly.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Bihar Police, which arrested Kumar, has submitted evidences against him to the state government. The SIT is said to have informed the government that it has strong evidences against the officer.

Last month after the leakage surfaced, the examination for recruitment of clerks in the state government, which was conducted in two parts on February 5 and 8, was cancelled.

The leaked questions appeared in the social media sites and WhatsApp on both dates and went viral in no time.

The SIT has also arrested the owner of a printing press in Ahmedabad in Gujarat, where the SSC, Bihar, question papers were printed.

During the interrogation of the owner, it was established that the papers were leaked from there ahead of the examinations, police officials said.

The Bihar government had suspended SSC Secretary Parmeshwar Ram before he was also arrested earlier this week.

More than 20 persons have so far been arrested over the leakage of question paper.

--IANS

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