Varanasi: Twenty-four students from Bihar were today (Dec 3, 2004) arrested near the Harduttpur railway station for allegedly possessing leaked question papers of a railway recruitment examination to be held on Sunday, police said.

Acting on a tip off, a police team arrested the students while they were on way to Varanasi from adjoining Mirzapur district along with the leaked papers, Station House Officer (SHO) of Rohania K D Mishra told reporters in Varanasi.

The accused students had purchased the question papers of the examination for railway goods guard posts for a sum of Rs 5 thousand each from some members of a recruitment racket at Patedha village in Manihan forests in adjoining Mirzapur district, a naxalite-infested region, he claimed.

None of the gang members responsible for leaking the question papers have been arrested so far, Mishra said adding a manhunt has been launched to nab them on the basis of information elicited from the arrested students.