Parmeshwar Ram, the suspended secretary of Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC), proved a hard nut to crack for interrogators who quizzed him for several hours on Saturday in connection with the clerical grade examination question paper leak.

Parmeshwar, who was taken on 48-hour remand with two others on Friday evening, parried most of the questions members of the special investigation team asked him. He, however, put the onus of the leak on the commission's suspended chairman, Sudhir Kumar, who is also in judicial custody.

"The chairman decided everything. I had a limited role to play in the affairs of the commission and examination. Ask him (Sudhir Kumar) as to how the question papers were leaked and who were involved in it," an investigating officer quoted Parmeshwar as saying.

Parmeshwar was taken to an undisclosed location for interrogation after the SIT got his remand on Friday.

Parmeshwar kept mum when the SIT personnel sought to know about the recovery of admit cards and OMR sheets from his Bhagwat Nagar residence. "We will change the strategy to elicit information from him," another SIT officer told The Telegraph.

Another team grilled Arun Kumar and Anand Sharma, who were also taken on remand on Friday. Arun revealed that Ashish, the nephew of suspended chairman Sudhir Kumar, provided him the question papers and answer key. Arun, who was taking the examination, is said to be a distant relative of Sudhir.

Anand Sharma, a resident of Phulwarisharif in Patna, too disclosed his long association with Parmeshwar. "I used to send text messages to the secretary for selection of my candidates. I was a frequent visitor to his house and had brokered a deal with him for my candidates," Sharma, who is in the real estate business, reportedly told interrogators.

On Friday, Gujarat High Court directed the owner of Confisec Printers, the Ahmedabad-based press printing BSSC question papers to hand over the original manuscripts of the papers leaked purportedly. The printing press had approached the high court, apprehending police action in view of the SIT investigation.

The SIT had earlier approached the printing press and sought original manuscripts of the question papers of the BSSC's clerical grade examination. The firm had contested in court, stating that it would amount to breach of secrecy.

The court, however, found that by handing over the document would not hamper the secrecy and directed the SIT not to make the document public. The firm had also apprehended that the SIT would seal its office, which would hamper the work of other state boards and competitive examinations.

An office-bearer of the printing press told the court that it used to print more than 50 lakh question papers of different state boards and other competitive examinations. SIT had earlier arrested Vineet Kumar, one of the directors of the firm.

However, Anand Brar, the Delhi-based BSSC paper evaluator, is still at large. Sources in the SIT said Sudhir, a 1987-batch IAS officer, would also be taken on remand.