Patna, June 10 (IANS) Even as the Special Investigation Team (SIT) conducted raids, Amit Kumar, the alleged mastermind of the Class 12 Board merit list scam in Bihar, remained untraced on Friday.

Kumar is the director-cum-principal of the VR College which is being investigated in the case.

Meanwhile, it has come to light that Kumar alias Bachcha Roy was present when the SIT raided the VR College in Vaishali. However, there are two versions of how he managed to evade arrest

According to certain sources, Kumar used his connections to evade arrest. But according to another version, Kumar got to know about the SIT raid and managed to leave the college precincts. IG (Tirhut) Sunil Kumar admitted that Kumar along with his father Rajdeo Roy was present at the time of the SIT raid and he provided some required documents.

"Bachcha Roy was present when the SIT went to his college. But the SIT failed to arrest him even though his name figures in the FIR that has been registered in the case," a top police official told IANS on condition of anonymity.

According to another police official, the accused was alerted by some powerful people in the state government that he could be arrested by the SIT. Since then he has been absconding.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has raised the issue and blamed the SIT for letting the accused evade arrest.

Meanwhile, the SIT is yet to track Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh, the former Chairman of the Bihar School Examination Board. He has been absconding ever since he resigned from the post.

SIT teams have been conducting raids in Vaishali, Muzaffarpur and other places to arrest the accused.