The Enforcement Directorate has attached properties worth Rs 4.5 crores belonging to Bachcha Rai alias Amit Kumar, the main accused behind the infamous Bihar topper scam. The attached properties also include assets belonging to family members of Rai.
ED attaches assets worth Rs. 4.53 crores of Bachcha Rai @ Amit Kumar & his family under PMLA. Bachcha Rai is the main accused of Topper Scam in Bihar.
— ED (@dir_ed) March 31, 2018
Rai was accused of taking large sums of money to make school kids top board exams through illicit means. The issue came to highlight in 2016 when several media reports revealed that the toppers of the Bihar board exams could not even answer basic questions about the number of subjects and curriculum for the examinations they topped in.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqXCrvtPd7k]
Bachcha Rai was the principal cum secretary of the Vishnu Rai college in Vaishali. The Arts and Science stream toppers of his college, Ruby Rai and Saurav Sreshtha, had failed to answer the simplest of questions regarding their subjects on television. Bachcha’s own daughter Shalini had topped the Bihar Board Science stream exam in 2015.
Following police complaints, the scam of making students board exam toppers after taking money came to highlight. Bachcha Rai had surrendered to police in June 2016 after absconding for several days. Former Bihar Board of Secondary Education chief Lalkeshwar Singh, his politician wife Usha Singh and principals of four different colleges were also arrested for involvement in the scam. Supreme Court had denied interim bail to Bachcha Rai.
According to reports, the ED has attached a total of 29 plots located in Hajipur, Mahua and Bhagwanpur area. Ed has also attached 10 bank accounts belonging to Bachcha and his family members and a flat in Patna.