Patna, March 02: Twenty-four imposters, loosely referred to as ‘Munnabhais’ after Rajkumar Hirani’s Bollywood blockbuster Munna Bhai M.B.B.S, were arrested and 28 students expelled on Day 1 of the matriculation examination conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board. The exam began across 38 districts of the state on Wednesday.
Among the arrested imposters, 14 were from Nalanda and 10 from Nawada districts.
Patna topped among expulsions, with five examinees being expelled for trying to adopt unfair means at the exams. Four were expelled in Bhojpur and two each in Arwal, Gaya, Munger, Lakhisarai, Supaul and Samastipur districts.
In the first session (9:30 am to 12:45pm), around 4.46 lakhs girls and 4,52 lakhs boys appeared in the English (general) paper while in the second session (2:00 pm to 5:15pm), 4.19 lakhs girls and 4,44 lakhs boys took the English (general) paper.
BSEB chairman Anand Kishor said the first day passed off peacefully at all 1532 centres across the state.
In 75 centres of Patna district, 42367 girls and 37601 boys appeared in the morning and evening sittings of the examinations.
Kishor made surprise inspections at Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav High School (Punaichak), Devipad Choudhary Miller Inter School, Bankpur Girls School and BN Collegiate School to oversee arrangements and also frisked some examinees randomly. He also reviewed CCTV and videography facilities at these schools.
He advised centre in-charges to maintain visitor entry register strictly during the examination.
The BSEB has introduced a slew of measures to check use of unfair means at exams after the intermediate merit scam in 2016. A topper, since stripped of her achievement, could not even mention her subjects properly when a TV journalist approached her for sound bite. The baffling revelation led to unearthing of the merit scam, leading to the arrests of former BSEB chairman and his wife, as also the principal of the school where the girl studied.
