Patna: Two fake candidates, Umesh Mandal and Mamta Kumari, were arrested during the counselling process of TRE (Teachers’ Recruitment Examination)-3 at a govt school in Samastipur district on Thursday. The two candidates allegedly submitted fake documents, including a Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) certificate. Their biometric details also did not match during the verification process. Kameshwar Prasad Gupta, district education officer (DEO), said a recounselling session for teachers under TRE-3 was conducted at +2 Tirhut Academy, Kashipur, in Samastipur. “During the session, the CTET certificates of Mandal from Baheri block in Darbhanga district and Kumari from Shivajinagar block in Samastipur were found to be fake, besides there was no biometric match for them.” When the officials questioned them, they admitted to participating in the counselling using fraudulent documents. Following the order of the DEO, the block education officer of Shivajinagar and verification officer Ramjanm Singh submitted an application to the Town police station in the matter. “An FIR was filed on the basis of the statements of the district education officials, following which both the fake candidates were arrested. They are being interrogated, and efforts are underway to find others involved in the fraud. During interrogation, Kumari revealed that one Vivek Kumar Dixit, who claimed himself to be the Singhia block project manager, demanded a bribe of Rs 1 lakh for helping her out in the counselling process. He collected Rs 75,000 through online transactions using three different cellphone numbers,” said Shiv Kumar Yadav, in charge of Town police station.
