Ex-Ctg Edu Board secretary, 3 others charged with HSC result tampering

A case has been filed against four individuals, including Narayan Chandra Nath, the former secretary of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Chattogram for tampering with the results of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations. 

The complaint was lodged yesterday (21 January), by the current Secretary Dr AKM Samsuddin Azad of the board at the Panchlaish police station.

The other accused are former chairman Professor Mustafa Kamrul Akhtar, former senior system Analyst Kibria Masud Khan, and Narayan Chandra Nath's son Nakshatra Debnath. 

Confirming the matter, Panchlaish police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mohammad Solaiman told The Business Standard, "The board authorities have filed a case against four individuals, including the former secretary and chairman, for allegedly conspiring to falsify HSC results. The investigation is ongoing."

Charges have been brought under various sections of the Penal Code and the Public Examinations (Offenses) Act, 1980, alleging conspiracy and forgery in the HSC results.

An earlier investigation by the Ministry of Education implicated other individuals in the fraud, including daily wage labourer Abdur Rahman, programmer Abdul Malek, part-time scanner operators Shiblu and Noman, assistant programmer Abul Hasnat, and Md Raju.

However, none of these names, except Narayan Chandra Nath, have been included as accused in the current case. 

Notably, the name of Professor AMM Mujibur Rahman, the then controller of examinations responsible for exam-related matters under the 1961 Examination Regulations, is also absent in the complaint.

Narayan Chandra Nath's son, Nakshatra Debnath, participated in the 2023 HSC examinations during his father's tenure as secretary of the education board. Questions arose when an unidentified person applied to reevaluate Nakshatra's result and later secured a GPA of 5. 

When Nakshatra's mother filed a General Dairy with Panchlaish police and Narayan applied to the board to cancel the reevaluation application the suspicion about result tempering came to light.

Following complaints, the Ministry of Education formed a committee to investigate the allegations.

The investigation confirmed the fraudulent activity, prompting the ministry on 15 September 2024, to assign Narayan Chandra Nath as an officer on special duty (OSD) and order the filing of a criminal case. 

The ministry also cancelled Nakshatra's HSC results and directed punitive actions against those involved.

Subsequently, on 23 September 2024, Nath was formally reassigned, and a month later, on 24 October 2024, his son's results were annulled.