A 10-member team of Enforcement Directorate confiscated 28 movable and immovable properties disproportionate to Amit Kumar, a jailed kingpin of the 2016 Intermediate Toppers scam in Bihar. Amit Kumar alias Bachcha Rai is the suspended principal of Vishnu Roy College in Vaishali district and was arrested in relation with the Intermediate Topper Scam in Bihar School Examination Board.
ED raided and confiscated disproportionate properties and other sources of income under Hajipur Safar, Bhagwanpur and Patepur blocks in Vaishali district on Monday. The confiscated properties include a house and a plot in Hajipur district, 13 plots and houses at Bhagwanpur, 11 plots at Chehrakalan and two plots at Patepur in Vaishali district.
“Bachcha’s two other properties one each in Patna and Saraikela in Jharkhand have not been attached. Sources said that the two properties had not been confiscated as Bachcha had requested the court not to do so on humanitarian grounds. However, the court had directed Bachcha to hand over the rent to the ED,” said a senior official.
According to sources, the plots were purchased in the names of Bachcha’s wife Sangeeta Rai, daughter Shalini Rai and other close relatives. As per the registered deeds the properties were purchased at Rs 2 crore. The market value of the seized property was worth Rs 10 crore. An under-construction college at Chehrakalan near Mahua in Vaishali was also confiscated.
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The scam came as an embarrassment for Bihar in June 2016 when Ruby Rai, a student of V.R. College, Kiratpur (Bhagwanpur) in Vaishali district, who had topped the Arts category in the Intermediate examination conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board, failed to answer basic questions and went on to describe political science as “prodigal science” that taught cooking.
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This was widely covered by the national media, prints and electronics both. Later the state government ordered an investigation by a special investigation team. An FIR was lodged with the Kotwali police station in Patna on the directive of then BSEB chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh. Subsequently, Lalkeshwar was arrested for involvement in the scam. Amit Kumar alias Bachcha Rai is serving his terms in Beur Central Jail in Bihar.
