CBI questioning Russian accused in JEE Mains Exams software hacking case

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is currently questioning a Russian man, who is said to be the prime accused in a case related to allegations of irregularities committed in the JEE (Mains) Exams 2021.
The accused Milhail Shargin was detained by the Bureau of Immigration at IGI Airport, Delhi while arriving in India from Kazakhstan’s Almaty as 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) in collusion with other accused in the instant case.
The role of a Russian national, who had allegedly tampered with the iLeon software (the platform on which the JEE(Main)-2021 examination was conducted), was revealed and it was alleged that he helped other accused in hacking the computer systems of suspect candidates during the examination. A Look Out Circular was opened against the Russian national.
A case was registered in 2021 against a private company and others including its Directors and three employees, private persons (conduits) etc on the allegations 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 Haryana’s Sonepat.
“Shargin used to obtain Class 10 and 12 mark sheets, the user IDs, passwords, and post dated cheques of aspiring students in different parts of country as security and once the admission was done, they used to collect heavy amount ranging from Rs 12-15 lakh per candidate,” the CBI said.
Searches were earlier conducted on in 2021 at 19 places including at Delhi, NCR, Pune, Jamshedpur, Indore and Bengaluru which led to the recovery of 25 laptops, 7 PCs, around 30 post-dated cheques along with incriminating documents, including mark sheet of different students.
“We are questioning Shargin. He is the prime accused,” said the CBI.