PATNA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached five immovable properties worth Rs 2.01 crore in connection with the 2023 Bihar Police Constable Recruitment Examination paper leak case.
The ED's Patna Zonal Office said on Saturday that the properties were held in the name of NC Print Private Limited, allegedly controlled by Kaushik Kumar Kar, who was associated with the company awarded the question paper printing contract.
The money laundering probe, initiated on the basis of an FIR registered by the Economic Offences Unit (EOU), Patna, revealed that Kar had floated Caltex Multi-ventures Private Limited, appointing his associates as directors to circumvent restrictions on Blessings Secured Press Private Limited, which had been blacklisted in previous examination paper leak cases.
Caltex had neither prior printing experience nor its own printing press but secured the contract to print the question papers. It subsequently outsourced the work to Blessings Secured Press in violation of contract conditions, ED sources said.
The question paper was allegedly leaked while being transported from Kolkata to Patna, forcing the cancellation of the examination and affecting thousands of candidates.
ED sources said that Caltex was paid Rs 5.90 crore for printing the papers, of which Rs 2.01 crore was transferred to the bank accounts of shell companies, routed through multiple transactions and converted into cash to conceal the money trail.
Meanwhile, the investigating agency has attached five properties equivalent to the allegedly diverted amount. Further investigation is underway in the money laundering case.
The EOU registered multiple FIRs, arrested numerous individuals (including members linked to an inter-state network headed by Sanjeev Mukhiya), and filed a chargesheet on August 22, 2024. Mukhiya, a resident of Nalanda district, was arrested by the EOU in the case.
The Central Selection Board of Constable (CSBC) cancelled the Bihar Police Constable recruitment written examination (held on October 1, 2023, for 21,391 posts) after widespread reports of a question paper leak and cheating using electronic devices.
Re-examinations were later conducted in August 2024, and the results were published in November 2024. The ED attached the properties on the plea that illicit funds from the paper leak were funnelled through shell companies.