BPSC exam row: Prashant Kishor detained in Patna

New Delhi: Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor, who had been on a fast unto death to press the demand for cancellation of a Bihar PSC exam at Gandhi Maidan here was detained early on Monday, police said.

Police personnel removed him and his supporters from the protest site.

According to supporters of Kishor, the police took him to Patna AIIMS for a medical examination.

Kishor began his fast unto death on January 2 in support of the students demanding the cancellation of Bihar Public Service Commission examination (BPSC) held on December 13 last year.

Before being detained, Kishor sought the support of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav.

Talking to reporters at the protest site on the fourth day of his 'Amran anshan', Kishor also said he was ready to "follow" these leaders and if they were averse to his presence, he was willing to "withdraw".

Citing the example of the agitation in Delhi against the controversial farm laws, Kishor remarked "The Modi government had to relent after several months. One day the Nitish Kumar government will also have to bow before the youth here".

The Jan Suraaj founder has been fast-unto-death since Thursday to press for the demand for cancellation of the integrated 70th combined (preliminary) competitive test conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) on December 13.

However, BPSC had ordered the retest for a select group of candidates who had appeared in the December 13 exam, which was embroiled over allegations of question paper leak. The retest was held on Saturday at 22 centres here.

The re-exam took place at 22 centres in Patna. Out of a total of 12,012 candidates, around 8,111 aspirants had downloaded their admit cards. However, 5,943 students appeared for the retest on Saturday.

The retest was held peacefully at all centres without report of any misconduct and malpractices, the BPSC said in a statement issued on Saturday.