The role of a minister in the Nitish Kumar government has come under the scanner of the police in connection with the leak of question papers of clerical grade examination conducted by the Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC).

Highly placed sources said that the minister was in touch with some racketeers hailing from Nalanda and Nawada districts. The alleged mastermind of the examination scam, Sanjiv Kumar, a resident of Noorsarai in Nalanda district, had close relations with the minister.

Sanjiv, better known as Guruji, and his associate Abhishek are evading arrest in the case. "Sanjiv's arrest will throw light on the role of the politician (minister) in the scam. We are collecting evidence to establish the racketeers' links with the politician, if any," said a senior police official.

He said the police concluded the role of the minister on the basis of call detail records of suspects who have already been arrested in connection with this case. So far, 24 persons have been arrested in the question leak case.

A resident of Noorsarai in Nalanda district, Sanjiv is believed to be an old associate of Ranjit Don, who had earlier shot into notoriety for leaking the question papers of the combined medical and engineering entrance exam.

The minister in question had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 parliamentary election from one of the parliamentary constituencies in Bihar. He still holds an important portfolio in the Grand Alliance government led by Nitish Kumar, a source in the police headquarters said.

Nalanda superintendent of police Kumar Ashish, however, denied that any police team from Patna had visited Nalanda to conduct a raid on the hideouts of the suspects in the examination racket.

"We will cooperate with the team, if required," the SP told The Telegraph.

On the contrary, a member of the special investigation team (SIT) had claimed that raids were carried out at different hideouts to look for Sanjiv on Thursday but he couldn't be arrested. "The investigation gets slow once the name of any political party leader turns up in any scam," the officer, who didn't wish to be named, pointed out.

This assumes significance in the wake of the statement of the commission's suspended secretary Parmeshwar Ram, earlier arrested in the case. Ram had told the interrogators: "If you have the courage, catch the real culprits responsible for the leak of the question papers. Many bigwigs are involved in the racket."

Sources in the SIT said that the question papers of the clerical grade examination were set by experts from noted education institutions in the country and printed at a printing press in metropolitan cities in South India. "It's wrong to say that the question papers were printed in eastern India," an official said.

Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaaj, who is also heading the SIT, said that at least three career-counselling centres in Patna were on the radar of the SIT. "These career counselling centres were in league with the racketeers," he said.

The revelation came during the interrogation of the three suspects - Rameshwar Kumar, proprietor of a private coaching institute, Sanoj Verma, proprietor of an ITI training institute and Atal Bihari, a teacher with a school in Aurangabad.

They were among the six accused taken on remand for interrogation by the SIT.

The SSP revealed that Rameshwar, Ram Sumer and Sanoj had also appeared at the examination conducted by the BSSC. In addition, they used to lure candidates to get them selected. Needless to say, the candidates were charged anything between Rs 6 lakh and Rs 7 lakh for the purpose.

Maharaaj admitted that some suspects were picked up for interrogation from Rohtas district on Friday. "The racket has spread its network outside the state as well," he said.