CBI detain Russian national in JEE main 2021 leak case

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday detained a foreign national and mastermind of Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2021 paper leak case. According to sources, CBI is interrogating a foreign national after taking him over from Bureau of Immigration (BoI) at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi which had detained this Russian national on his arrival from Kazakhstan based on Look out Circular (LOC) issed by CBI in Software tampering case of JEE Mains-2021. He was the main hacker in the case.

"He was the mastermind in the case who has hacked the software of examination. We are questioning him to ascertain the role of the other people involved in the case and identifying the people who were giving instructions to him," said a senior CBI official. The accused has been identified as Mikhail Shargin, a Russian national.

The accused was detained by the Bureau of Immigration at IGI Airport, Delhi while arriving in India from Almaty, Kazakhstan. A Look Out Circular was opened against him. 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. 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.

On September 2021, CBI had registered a case against a private company and others including its Directors and three employees, private persons(conduits) etc on the allegations of irregularities being committed in the ongoing JEE (Mains) Exams 2021 by a private educational institution, its directors, their touts/associates and staff posted at the examination centre and other unknown persons. It was further alleged that the said company and its Directors were manipulating the online examination of JEE (Mains) and facilitating aspiring students to get admission in top NITs in consideration of huge amount by solving the question paper of the applicant through remote access 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 conducted in Delhi & NCR, Pune, Jamshedpur, Indore and Bangalore which led to recovery of 25 Laptops, seven PCs, around 30 Post-Dated Cheques along with voluminous incriminating documents/ devices including PDC mark sheet of different students.