Patna, March 20 (IANS): Eight Home Guard personnel were arrested on Friday on charges of helping students to copy in the Class 10 board examination in Bihar's Saharsa district, officials said.

It was the first such action amid widespread reports of mass copying and cheating across the state.

The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), which is conducting the exercise, has cancelled examinations at four centres where cases of cheating were reported on on large scale.

"The arrested Home Guards were deployed at different examination centres to ensure free and fair exam but they were found helping the students in copying and cheating," an official said in Saharsa, 210 km from here.

According to officials, the arrested men allegedly took money from students to let them copy.

In the last three days, TV news channels have shown police officials accepting money from students to let them cheat in examination centres.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Friday that action would be taken against all those who allowed mass copying.

More than 1.4 million students are appearing in the Class 10 board examination.

Some students caught cheating have been expelled, said Lalkeshwar Prasad, chairman of the BSEB.