CBI grills Russian national for hacking software of JEE Mains exam

The CBI has detained a Russian national for his alleged role in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) paper leak case. The detained person has been identified as Mikhail Shargin. According to the CBI, the accused had helped in tampering with the iLeon software, the platform used for conducting the JEE Mains examination. The said accused was detained by the Bureau of Immigration at Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, after he arrived in India from Almaty, Kazakhstan. During investigations, it came to light that some foreign nationals were involved in compromising many online examinations, including JEE (Mains). They had colluded with other accused persons. Role of one Russian National was revealed who had allegedly tampered with the iLeon software (the platform on which the JEE(Main)-2021 examination was conducted) and that he helped other accused in hacking the computer systems of suspect candidates during the examination. Therefore, a Look Out Circular was opened against the said Russian National. According to the CBI, Shargin had allegedly tampered with the iLeon software, the platform on which the JEE (Mains) 2021 examination was conducted. The software was designed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The accused had helped other accused persons in hacking the computer systems of the suspect candidates during the examination.

CBI had registered on September 1, 2021, against a private company, its directors, three of its employees and other conduits, following allegations of irregularities in the JEE (Mains) exam for 2021. It was alleged that the company and its directors were manipulating the online JEE (Mains) exam and facilitating certain students to secure admission in top NITs (National Institute of Technology) in exchange for huge amount of money. The accused persons were allegedly solving the question papers for the applicants through remote access of their computers from a chosen examination centre in Sonepat, Haryana. 

It was also alleged that the accused used to obtain Xth and XIIth mark sheets, the User IDs, Passwords, and Post Dated Cheques of aspiring students in different parts of country as security and once admission was done, they used to collect heavy amount ranging from Rs 12-15 Lakh per candidate.Searches were earlier conducted on September 02, 2021 at 19 places including at Delhi & NCR, Pune, Jamshedpur, Indore & Bangalore which led to recovery of 25 Laptops, 7 PCs, around 30 Post-Dated Cheques along with voluminous incriminating documents/ devices including PDC’s mark sheet of different students