Arrested former Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh had last year ignored an education department committee report that had recommended that the board derecognise the Vishun Roy College in Vaishali, the epicentre of the Intermediate topper scam, police said on Tuesday.

The revelation was made to the cops by Srinivas Tiwari, the arrested former BSEB secretary. "Tiwari, who was the BSEB secretary from July 2014 to September 2015, was arrested yesterday (Monday) by the SIT (special investigation team) for his involvement in the scam after the police found concrete evidences against him," a member of the SIT told The Telegraph on Tuesday. "His statement was recorded today (Tuesday) under provisions of Section 164 of the CrPc in which he has revealed some shocking details."

Tiwari told the cops, the SIT member said, that last year's Intermediate examination was rigged too and that around 100 students of Vishun Roy College had secured abnormally high marks.

"At that time, Lalkeshwar was the chairman of the board," the SIT member said. "The securing of high marks from so many students of just one college had shocked many and the education department formed an unfair means committee was to probe into the matter. It was found that many copies either had the same marks or the marks in the mark sheets and answer sheets of many students were different thus exposing the irregularities. The committee had recommended the immediate cancellation of recognition given by the board to the Vishun Roy College."

Lalkeshwar acted according to the advice of his wife, former JDU MLA Usha Sinha, and Vishun Roy College owner Bachcha Rai, the SIT member said.

Tiwari was sent to judicial custody on Tuesday, and the police said he had accepted that he was "very close" to Bachcha. "The statements given by Tiwari are shocking and the police's investigation will be moving accordingly," the SIT member said. "The police are trying to locate and arrest the other toppers and their family members. It has been learnt that the examination centre of Vishun Roy College was changed on the verbal order of the then Vaishali district education officer Satyanarayan Prasad. Prasad is being questioned and more revelations will follow."

Some senior officers posted in Vaishali district are also under the police's scanner, the SIT member added.