Namesake row: Two 'Akanksha Singhs' claim UPSC rank 301, same roll number sparks controversy between Bihar and UP candidates

GAYA: By claiming to have cleared the UPSC exam 2025 and got placed at rank no. 301, Akanksha Singh, grand daughter of Ranvir Sena chief late Brahmeshwar Mukhiya has courted controversy on account of allegations that she has impersonated her namesake from Ghazipur (UP) who is said to be the real claimant of the rank.Akanksha Singh of Ghazipur is the daughter of one Ranjit Singh. She is a doctor currently working in the AIIMS-Patna.As per reports, Brahmeshwar Mukhiya’s grand daughter claimed to have passed the secondary examination from Catholic Mission School Ara and secured 80% marks. According to available information, the said school is affiliated to Bihar School Exam Board. When contacted, none from the school responded.She also claimed to have obtained a graduate degree in English literature from H D Jain College, Ara. Cellphone of the college principal Narendra Pratap Singh remained switched off on Saturday afternoon.The Ara girl found traction more on account of her dreaded family lineage than the “success”.Whereas the Mukhiya’s grand daughter has little to substantiate her claim, her namesake from Ghazipur has made a post on social media providing apparently credible details, including her e-summon and date as well as time of her personality test at the UPSC. The Mukhiya’s grand daughter has not come out with any such proof and has gone incommunicado.When contacted, Indu Bhushan Singh, son of Brahmeshwar Mukhiya, said his daughter was not at home. Asked about the personality test call letter, he said it got deleted during reformatting of her cellphone. “This is a matter that falls under the UPSC’s jurisdiction. Let it clarify,” Singh said.This is not the first time that such instances have cropped up after the declaration of the UPSC results. According to experts, the UPSC only releases the names and roll numbers of successful candidates. “Candidates bearing the same name sometimes feel tempted to take credit for someone else’s success. Some mechanism has to be found out to prevent such controversies,” said KP Sinha, a retired principal.Late Mukhiya had hit the headlines for the wrong reasons. Founder of the Ranvir Sena, a private army patronised by the landowners of Magadh and Shahabad region, Mukhiya was alleged to have masterminded nearly three dozen massacres in which about 400 people belonging to the under privileged sections were killed. The state govt had announced an award of Rs 5 lakh on his head. The Sena was formed in mid 1990s ostensibly to protect landowners from the perpetuators of Maoist violence.Ranvir Sena and the Maoists fought bloody battles for supremacy for more than a decade that witnessed massacres like Senari, Miapur and Laxmanpur Bathe. More than 125 innocent lives were lost in these three massacres alone. Inflicting severe injuries on each other, both the Sena and Maoists have now faded into oblivion.