Bihar Class XII topper Ganesh Kumar arrested, result cancelled

TIL Desk/National/Patna/ Ganesh Kumar, this year’s Class 12 board exam topper in Bihar who followed suit with last year’s topper Ruby Rai in flubbing a TV interview by failing to answer basic questions about his subjects, has been arrested. His result, like his predecessor, has been cancelled.

The Bihar School Examination Board has also lodged a case against him for concealing his age. Mr Kumar, who had claimed to be 24, is actually 42 and the father of two children, Board chairman Anand Kishor said.

Last year, Ruby Rai drew national infamy after she said “political science” is about cooking. This time, Mr Kumar, the topper in humanities, stumbled over queries posed by the media on music, in which he scored 65 out of 70 in practicals.

Mr Kumar in an interview to a TV news channel said singer Lata Mangeshkar is known as ‘Maithili Kokila’, a title bestowed on folk singer Sharda Sinha, who is from Samastipur, where his school is situated.

He seemed to have a difficult time explaining what is ‘sur’, ‘taal’ and ‘matra’, considered the basics of music. Asked what did he do in music practicals, he unrhythmically sang a few lines of a Bollywood number.