A few men in uniform actively helped some Class X examinees in resorting to unfair means despite chief minister Nitish Kumar's wish for fair matriculation exam.

Nine security personnel - a havildar of Bihar Military Police (BMP) in Arwal and eight homeguard jawans in Saharsa - were arrested on Saturday for their role in helping students use unfair means in the examination conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board. The BMP jawan of the Muzaffarpur-based battalion was arrested from an examination centre at Umairabad in Arwal for helping his daughter in writing the exam. The homeguard jawans were nabbed in Saharsa for helping parents of some examinees in supplying chits.

Saharsa superintendent of police (SP) P.K. Sinha said eight homeguards were apprehended from three examination centres under the jurisdiction of Saharsa Sadar police station. The SP said the bond papers of all the eight jawans had been cancelled with immediate effect and recommendation regarding their termination had been sent to the headquarters of the organisation headed by director-general (DG) S.K. Bhardwaj.

DG (homegaurds) was not available for comments.

Sinha said the arrested jawans did not have any bribe money. Some people had alleged that they had demanded money from the parents and relatives in lieu of "service".

The SP said: "These jawans will no longer serve the police or any other government organisation."

Sinha's Arwal counterpart Manavjit Singh Dhillon said BMP havildar Ram Lakhan Sharma was arrested on Saturday for helping his daughter in taking the matriculation exam. Sharma, a resident of Mehandia in Arwal, used to visit the examination centre in uniform.

Sharma had told the principal of the school in which his daughter was writing the exam that he had been deployed at the centre to ensure fair and trouble-free examination. "After verification, we found Sharma was never deputed there," the SP said.

Sharma was forwarded to jail on Sunday and the information about his arrest was sent to the commandant of the 6th battalion of the BMP and the state police headquarters.

A source in the examination board said 760 examinees had been expelled till date. Additional director-general (headquarters) Gupteshwar Pandey claimed that so far 900 guardians and relatives had been apprehended on the charge of supplying chits.

The examination became the talking point after education minister P.K. Shahi on Thursday issued a statement claiming that the government alone could not check use of unfair means. It was followed by a damage-control exercise the next day and the chief minister virtually snubbed him by convening a meeting of senior officials and directing them to take all possible steps to ensure a fair examination.