PATNA, Nov. 1 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached five immovable properties belonging to Kaushik Kumar Kar, a charge sheeted accused in the 2023 Constable Recruitment Examination paper leak case, officials said on Saturday. The examination was conducted by the Central Selection Board of Constables (CSBC). The ED Patna zonal office said Kaushik Kar, owner of Blessings Secured Press Pvt. Ltd (BSPPL), conspired to secure the Constable Recruitment Examination printing contract using a proxy firm, Caltex Multiventures Private Limited (CMPL). The agency has provisionally attached Rs.201 crore in assets linked to the investigation, which centres on allegations of conspiracy, misappropriation of funds, and the use of shell entities to conceal money. The money laundering probe by ED, initiated on the basis of an FIR registered by the EoU revealed that the CSBC had agreement with a Kolkata-based company--CMPL- for printing of question papers, packaging and transportation to treasury. In course of investigation, when EoU team arrived at the registered address of CMPL, found it running in a single room with no printing press, warehouse and logistic support. There was no person available on the spot. "The CMPL company handed over its work to a BSPPL for printing question papers and confidential documents. CMPL violated the agreement and the work order. In the agreement, there was no provision of outsourcing/subletting work," said an EoU official. BSPPL is owned by Kaushik Kumar Kar, earlier accused in teacher recruitment paper leak case conducted by UPPSC, and an FIR was also lodged in Varanasi and Bidhannagar in West Bengal in 2018 and 2019 respectively. The same company was involved in the question paper leak case of Arunachal Pradesh public service commission (APPSC). In further investigation, EoU found that Kaushik had registered CMPL company in 2021, while BSPPL was black listed. "Kaushik's wife is the director of CMPL while former employees of BSPCL--Suman Biswas, Sanjay Das and marketing consultant Sourabh Bandopadhyay--were directors of CMPL," said an EoU official. The question papers of the exam were transported from Kolkata to Patna and was leaked enroute to the exam centres in connivance with the other accused. The leakage resulted in the exam getting cancelled, causing financial loss to the Bihar government and adversely affecting the career of exam aspirants. ED officials aware of the matter said MPL also got advance of Rs.5.9 crore and remitted only part of the funds to BSPPL and Rs.2.01 crore were found diverted through various shell entities, which finally dissipated. ED investigation has also revealed that the proceeds of crime generated through the criminal activities were layered and concealed through a complex network of Kolkata based shell companies/ entities lacking genuine business operations. As the crime proceeds could not be traced further, five immovable properties to the tune of Rs.2.01 crore held in the name of M/s NC Print Pvt. Ltd., another company controlled and beneficially owned by Kar, have been provisionally attached as value equivalent to the Proceeds of Crime identified so far. "Further investigation, including identification of additional Proceeds of Crime and the roles of other accused persons/ entities involved in the laundering thereof, is underway," said the official, adding that the role of then chairman of CSBC Sanjeev Kumar Singhal in the paper leak was found to be "under suspicion". Singhal, a 1988 batch IPS officer, was posted as chairman of CSBC, within a month of his retirement from service in December 2022. The exam for the recruitment of constables was held in October 2023. Following the exam, complaints regarding question paper leak surfaced from 74 centres across the state. Initially, Singhal denied the allegations. However, after much hue and cry, the government asked EoU to probe the allegations. The examination was later cancelled on the findings of the EoU. A case was also registered against Singhal. He was removed from his post in December 2023. The EoU, in its investigation, found that the former state police chief had accepted cut money from the private companies that were awarded contract of printing the papers....