CBI arrests Russian national in JEE-Mains exam manipulation case

The CBI on Monday arrested a Russian national in connection with its probe into alleged manipulation of JEE (Mains) examination last year, officials said.

The central agency had issued a 'Look Out Circular' against Mikhail Shargin, suspected to be main hacker, for alleged manipulation of the prestigious examination, they said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was alerted by the Bureau of Immigration when Shargin arrived at Indira Gandhi International Airport here from Almaty, Kazakhstan, at 0120 hours, they said, adding that he was immediately detained by the CBI and was questioned in connection with the JEE manipulation case.

"During investigation, it came to light that some foreign nationals were involved in compromising many online examinations, including JEE (Mains), colluding with other accused in the instant case," a CBI spokesperson said.

The investigation indicated that Shargin had allegedly tampered with the iLeon software, the platform on which the JEE (Main)-2021 examination was conducted, and also helped other accused in hacking the computer systems of suspect candidates during the examination, the officials said.

In September last year, the agency had booked Affinity Education Pvt Ltd and its three directors, Siddharth Krishna, Vishwambhar Mani Tripathi and Govind Varshney, besides other touts and associates for alleged manipulation of examination.

It was alleged that the three directors, in conspiracy with other associates and touts, were manipulating the online examination of JEE (Mains) and facilitating aspiring students to get admission into top National Institutes of Technology in consideration of huge amounts by solving the applicants' question papers through remote access from a chosen examination centre in Sonepat (Haryana).

"It was also alleged that the accused used to obtain class 10 and 12 mark sheets, user IDs, passwords, and post dated cheques of aspiring students in different parts of the country as security and once admission was done, they used to collect heavy amount ranging from Rs 12-15 lakh (approx) per candidate," the spokesperson said.