Topper scam: Vaishali DM sits on cops' queries

Patna: Even after more than 15 days, Vaishali DM Rachana Patil has yet not responded to the special investigation team (SIT) letter seeking details about the last-moment changes in the examination centres of the Intermediate examinations conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) and how the answersheets were changed and not sent to the evaluation centre.Patil could not be contacted as her official mobile phone was out of the coverage area.
“A letter was sent to the Vaishali DM on August 11. We have requested her to reply a few questions related to the Intermediate toppers’ scam in which Vaishali was the epicentre. In the letter, she was asked to furnish details about the last-moment changes in the examination centres and replacement of original answersheets which were not sent to the evaluation centre,” a source in the SIT probing the Intermediate examination toppers’ scam said.
Patna SSP Manu Maharaaj, who is heading the SIT, confirmed that a reply from the officer’s side was awaited. “We cannot divulge the details of the letter and reply to it as they will hamper the progress in the investigation,” he said and hinted that given the sensitivity and magnitude of the scam, a central agency like CBI may take up the investigation.
“Following our request to several banks to freeze the accounts of all the accused, Bank of Baroda has informed us that the account of Vivek Kumar, the son-in-law of former BSEB chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh and son of former Magadh University vice-chancellor Arun Kumar, has been frozen. Vivek made fixed deposits of Rs 75 lakh between November 14, 2012 and January 29, 2013. He made a fixed deposit of Rs 50 lakh on November 14, 2012. He was employed as a section engineer with the railways. How he procured such a huge amount needs further investigation,” he said.
Earlier, the SIT received confirmation from different banks that eight bank accounts of Lalkeshwar and his wife and former JD(U) MLA from Hilsa Usha Sinha had been frozen. One of the bank accounts of Usha had transaction of around Rs 1 crore.
“We will write to the enforcement directorate (ED) through the state economic offences unit (EOU) to lodge a disproportionate assets (DA) case against the accused. We have also procured arrest warrant against Janardan Prasad Agarwal, the district panchayati raj official of Aurangabad, for his involvement in the Rs 8.56 crore scam in which they had illegally purchased answersheets from a Gujarat-based printing company,” the SSP said.