The investigation into Bihar Public Service Commission's Assistant Education Development Officer (AEDO) examination is no longer confined to a suspected question-paper leak. According to the Economic Offences Unit (EOU), the rot runs far deeper — the entire technical backbone of the exam, from biometric verification down to the jammers, appears to have been bent to serve the cheating. Investigators believe the secrecy of the test was compromised not at one point but through deliberate irregularities engineered at several levels.
How the biometric agency tilted the field
At the centre of the EOU's findings sits the private agency that was contracted to handle candidates' biometric verification. It allegedly threw the laid-down process out of the window. Brushing aside the Randomization Rule — the very mechanism meant to guarantee fairness — it placed people at examination centres at the last moment who were never on the approved list. More damning still, several of the staff who have been arrested turned out to be AEDO aspirants themselves, even though the rules required them to sign a declaration stating that they were not candidates.
Answers over Bluetooth, questions over jammers
The EOU says indications have emerged from Begusarai, Chhapra and Nalanda that answers were being fed to candidates through Bluetooth devices. The unit is also examining whether the reach of jammers at some centres was deliberately curtailed so that outside signals could keep working. Should that be established, it would amount to a serious breach in the exam's security setup.
35 arrests, and some familiar faces
So far, 35 people have been taken into custody across different districts in connection with the case. The list includes biometric supervisors, district coordinators and other personnel. The probe threw up another troubling detail — a few of those involved had earlier been named as accused in alleged irregularities during the constable (Sipahi) recruitment examination, yet they were handed key responsibilities in this exam all the same.
Move to blacklist the agency
On the strength of its findings, the EOU has now forwarded a recommendation to the state government and to other exam-conducting bodies to blacklist the biometric agency in question. Running in parallel, the staff linked to the jammer arrangements and the whole technical process are being scrutinised. The roles of the Commission's own officials and employees are under examination as well.
Bigger revelations likely ahead
Sources in the EOU say the threads of the entire network are still being tied together, with investigators working to pin down exactly who held control of the technical setup and where the failures were mere negligence versus outright collusion. More arrests and fresh details are expected to surface, with all eyes now fixed on where the investigation leads.
