The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached five immovable properties valued at 2.01 crore rupees belonging to entities linked to Kaushik Kumar Kar, the alleged mastermind behind the 2023 Bihar Police Constable Recruitment Examination paper leak. The attachment was carried out under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. According to federal investigators, the seized assets are associated with NC Print Private Limited, an enterprise owned and controlled by Kar with its corporate headquarters located in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. The enforcement measure forms part of an expansive financial inquiry into the alleged diversion, layering, and laundering of public funds allocated by the state recruitment board for printing confidential examination materials.
Proxy Enterprise Created to Mask Blacklisted Printing Press
Investigators established that Kar had previously operated Blessings Secured Press Private Limited, a firm that had been blacklisted in connection with earlier question paper leaks. To circumvent procurement restrictions and conceal the debarred status of his enterprise, Kar allegedly floated Caltex Multiventures Private Limited as a front entity. The investigating agency alleges that the procurement was tainted by criminal conspiracy, forgery, and cheating, as Caltex Multiventures was presented as a viable printing contractor despite having no operational track record, no prior background in printing confidential examination tests, and no in-house printing infrastructure. The Central Selection Board of Constables, headed at the time by former Director General of Police S.K. Singhal, awarded the sensitive contract to Caltex Multiventures. However, once the contract was secured, the front company breached contractual obligations by outsourcing the physical printing tasks directly back to the blacklisted Blessings Secured Press, thereby allowing the debarred operator to handle the confidential examination assignment through an indirect channel.
Over Two Crore Diverted from Printing Advance Through Shell Firms
Financial records examined by investigators show that Caltex Multiventures received an advance disbursement of approximately 5.9 crore rupees from the recruitment board to execute the printing mandate. Rather than deploying the entire advance toward the contracted technical operations, the enterprise transferred only a fraction of the capital to the actual printing setup. Investigators found that the remaining sum of 2.01 crore rupees was systematically siphoned off and misappropriated through a network of paper companies. The agency suspects the capital was routed across multiple commercial entities to obscure the origin of the money and conceal the identities of the ultimate beneficiaries. Tracing the paper trail led federal officers to fictitious entities and shell firms operating out of Kolkata that were utilized to circulate the illicit proceeds. Because the original criminal proceeds could not be directly isolated as distinct physical holdings, the agency provisionally attached five properties registered to Kar’s firm NC Print Private Limited to prevent the disposal or encumbrance of assets during the legal process.
Examination Cancellation Followed Leak Across 21,391 Constable Posts
The recruitment examination took place on October 1, 2023, aimed at filling 21,391 constable positions across Bihar. Following reports of extensive leaks, the Central Selection Board of Constables cancelled the examination. The Economic Offences Unit of the Bihar Police subsequently registered a first information report, which became the predicate offense for the federal money laundering probe. During the ongoing inquiry, federal officers analyzed Telegram channels, suspicious phone numbers, and bank records to uncover the nexus linking the leaked papers with unauthorized cash flows. Investigators continue to trace remaining associates and additional assets tied to the network.
