The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has launched multi-state searches related to the alleged scam in the 2023 Bihar police constable recruitment examination. The searches, conducted on Thursday, spanned across multiple locations in Patna and Nalanda in Bihar, Ranchi (Jharkhand), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), and Kolkata (West Bengal). These actions are part of a money laundering investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED's investigation is focused on private entities, including agents, members of the exam paper leak syndicate, and their associates. A printing press in Kolkata, where the exam papers were printed, was also searched. Sources indicate that the masterminds behind this scam are the same individuals implicated in the NEET UG paper leak of 2024.
The Bihar Police Constable 2023 recruitment aimed to fill 21,391 vacancies within the state's police force. The examination, held on October 1, 2023, at 529 centers across 37 districts in Bihar, attracted over 1.8 million aspirants. However, the Central Selection Board of Constables (CSBC) cancelled the examination on October 3, 2023, following allegations of a paper leak.
The ED's money laundering case is based on FIRs filed by the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of the Bihar Police. The agency suspects that a network of agents generated "proceeds of crime" by leaking and selling the exam papers to candidates, using the illicit funds to create personal assets. Some Bihar police officials are also under scrutiny.
During the raids in Patna, ED officials searched the premises of Shiv, while in Ranchi, the residence of Sikandar Prasad Yadavendu was searched. Both individuals are believed to be directly involved in the recruitment scam. Shiv is the son of Sanjeev Mukhiya, the alleged mastermind of the NEET-UG 2024 paper leak, who has also been implicated in leaking multiple other competitive exam papers.
In Nalanda, raids targeted the residences of Shiv and Sandeep Kumar, a close associate of Mukhiya. Authorities seized original certificates from eight to ten candidates, along with blank cheques, chequebooks, passbooks, and other documents.
The Bihar EOU's investigation revealed that the CSBC had contracted Kolkata-based Caltex Multivation Private Limited (CMPL) to print, package, and transport the question papers. CMPL allegedly violated the agreement by outsourcing the work to Blessing Secured Press Private Limited (BSPPL) without authorization.
The EOU further discovered that the leaked question papers were stored improperly for six days before being distributed to candidates who paid significant sums for them. During the examination, several candidates were caught cheating using electronic devices and other fraudulent methods, leading to the exam's cancellation.
