BSSC chairman Sudhir Kumar custody extended till Mar 16

A special court here today extended the judicial custody of senior IAS officer and chairman of Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC) Sudhir Kumar till March 16 in a case of leak of examination papers.
The case relates to leak of question papers in recruitment examinations for clerks held on February 5.
Along with Sudhir Kumar, the vigilance court of Brij Mohan Singh extended the judicial custody of eight others, including relatives of the IAS officer, till March 16.
Sudhir Kumar, who is a 1987-batch IAS officer, was brought to the court from Phulwarisharif jail.
The case against him has been transferred to the vigilance court from that of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Patna City Khyati Singh on prayer of the investigating officer after addition of Prevention of Corruption Act against the officer.

The custody of other accused, including BSSC Secretary Parmeshwar Ram, has already been extended till March 16, the next date of hearing.

Sudhir Kumar was arrested on February 24 by Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the state government to probe the question paper leak in two consecutive phases of the examinations.
The state government has already suspended the IAS officer.
Question and answer of the BSSC examination held on February 5 for recruitment of clerks in various state government departments had been circulated online before the exam begun.
On the basis of probe report of state police chief P K Thakur and recommendation of Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had announced cancellation of the exam.

He had also ordered a thorough probe by SIT headed by Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj in the case.
The state unit of IAS Association had protested the way Sudhir Kumar was arrested from his father's home in Hazaribagh in neighbouring Jharkhand.