Bihar topper scam: Accused Diwakar Prasad found dead

Patna: Diwakar Prasad, an accused in Bihar topper scam, was found dead on Thursday.

A big racket operating in Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) was unearthed after Ruby Rai of Bishundeo Rai College in Hajipur hit the headlines in June when she pronounced political science, one of her subjects, as "prodikal science" which according to her teaches cooking.

Rubi had topped this year`s Class 12 examination conducted by the BSEB in humanities stream.

She got into trouble after a sting by a TV news channel showed her giving ludicrous answers to elementary questions related to her subjects.

The sting suggested that the `toppers` might have used cheating and fraud to achieve their top ranks.

The state government instituted an SIT headed by Manu Maharaj to conduct a probe into the scam and answer sheets of some candidates were sent for forensic examination.

The results of Rai and that of Saurabh Kumar, Science topper in the state's Plus 2 examination this year, were cancelled after they failed to replicate their performance in a re-test.

The then BSEB chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh, his former JD(U) MLA wife Usha Sinha and other board officials involved in the racket were arrested and jailed.

Secretary of the Bishundeo Rai college Bachacha Rai, from where the Arts and Science toppers hailed, is also in jail.