Bihar toppers scam: Bail plea of Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh, wife Usha Sinha rejected

Patna: A civil court in Patna on Tuesday rejected the interim bail plea of Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) ex-chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh and his wife Usha Sinha, a former JD (U) MLA, in connection with the intermediate toppers' scam case in the state.

The couple was arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) yesterday.

The arrest warrant was issued by a Patna civil court against Singh, who is a key accused in the case and had gone underground after resigning from the board and was untraceable since then.

According to reports, the couple left Bihar and reached Varanasi soon after their alleged involvement in the scam was exposed.

Following the furore over the Bihar Board examination toppers being unable to answer basic questions related to their stream eventually leading to a re-examination, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had earlier said the guilty won't be spared, adding the investigation into this matter will be done with a criminal angle.

The BSEB earlier on June 4 cancelled the results of two toppers, including Sourabh Shrestha, of the Intermediate (Science) examinations after they failed to prove their merits in a re-test.

The board had on June 3 asked Sourabh and his college mate Rahul Kumar, who were among the 13 toppers from the arts and science streams in the Class XII examinations, to reappear in a re-test following a controversy over their merits.

Saurabh Shrestha from the science stream, who had secured 485 out of 500, was caught on camera failing to answer basic questions.

Ruby Rai, the arts topper, from the same college failed to take the re-test earlier on Friday citing health reasons.

Rai had secured 444 marks out of 500 in the arts stream. However, on camera she did not even appear to know the number of subjects in her course.