Bihar class 12th Arts 'topper' Ganesh arrested, result cancelled

Bihar Intermediate Arts topper Ganesh Kumar was arrested here on Friday night. A case of forgery has been registered at the Kotwali police station against him for concealing his actual age. The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) chairman Anand Kishore confirmed the arrest, which took place after Ganesh was found to be of 42 years old, and not 24 years as mentioned in his application.

Ganesh, who studied in Ram Nandan Singh Jagdeep Narayan Higher Secondary School in Samastipur, topped in the Arts stream with 82.6 per cent marks. His result has been cancelled for forging the documents. He had mentioned his date of birth as June 2, 1993. But BSEB sources said Ganesh, a native of Jharkhand, was actually 42 years old as he is 1975 born.

A married person, Ganesh is said to have two children, a charge he initially denied. The forgery came to light after media quizzed him about music as he had scored 83 in the subject. On further query, it came to fore that he originally hailed from Giridih in Jharkhand from where he had completed his Xth and possibly XIIth too.

“From 2009 to 2014, he ran a chit fund company in Jharkhand. When the company became bankrupt and investors started baying for his blood, he fled to Bihar and took shelter in Samastipur where he took admission in such a school where attendance was not an issue. He got enrolled in Intermediate where he ‘topped’ in a questionable manner,” the source informed Deccan Herald.

Surprisingly, Ganesh’s arrest came a day after BSEB chairman Anand Kishore stoutly defended him and said “Ganesh has performed well. I have personally checked his copies. There will be no change in the toppers’ list.”

On Friday, as media questioned Ganesh’s basic knowledge about his subjects, the ‘topper’ was summoned to BSEB office where Kishore quizzed him.

When Kishore, who is also Commissioner of Patna division, found charges against Ganesh true, he asked for lodging of a FIR, following which the ‘Arts topper’ was arrested. A case will be lodged against the principal and other staff of the school where Ganesh studied.

After his result was cancelled, Neha of Madhubani was declared the Arts topper.

This is the second consecutive year that the BSEB had draw flak for its fake intermediate topper. In 2016, the three ‘toppers’ Ruby Rai, Saurabh and Rahul Kumar were arrested, while the then chairman of the BSEB Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh is still cooling his heels behind bars.