JEE Main Scam: How accused conducted exams through remote access

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sent the owner and other staff members of a coaching institute and has also conducted raids at 20 places across the country including Delhi, Patna, Pune and Ranchi.

The CBI has detained seven people for allegedly trying to subvert the ongoing engineering entrance exams - JEE Main. The accused used to charge around Rs 15 lakh from candidates in exchange for someone else taking the JEE Main examination.

In connection with irregularities in the JEE Main scam, CBI has sent coaching institute, Affinity Education Directors Siddharth Krishna and Vishambar Mani Tripathi, and an employee Hritik Singh to CBI custody till September 9.

As per a statement issued by the CBI, accused persons connived with the supervisors of the recently concluded session 4 of the JEE (Main) 2021 exam centres located at Sonipat and a few more centres in Haryana and made necessary arrangements for running fraudulent practices during the exams.

The JEE Main Scam: Modus Operandi

Till now CBI has arrested seven people in connection with the JEE (Main) 2021 exam, which includes a person named Ranjit (38), a resident of Adityapur Housing Colony in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. Ranjit is an engineering graduate, who is being told as the person who used to answer maximum questions during the exam. Ranjit is also being termed as the Munnabhai of JEE Main scam, used to charge Rs 10-12 lakh per person for solving the papers.

The central agency formed a team of nearly 200 technical experts to unearth the JEE (Main) scam. As per the CBI, the agents of the accused in custody used to target students, and used to assure them of admission to leading technical colleges in the country.

Students who were implicated on the pretext of getting admission to the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) were asked to select exam centres in Sonepat and three other centres in Haryana.

During the examination to avoid getting caught, students had to hold the mouse, while the solver used to solve the questions with remote access.

As per the CBI, expert professionals took the test by taking students user IDs and passwords to remote access the computer. During the examination, the students were asked to put their hands on the mouse and calculate something so that no one gets suspicious and does not get caught by the CCTV camera. Technical fraud has been reported from Bangalore. The CBI also has suspicion of the involvement of the supervisor of the examination centres in the alleged scam, by helping with computer access.

The JEE Scam

The CBI statement states that the accused were manipulating the JEE (Main) examination which is conducted in online mode and facilitating aspiring students to get admission in top NITs.

The Case was registered on September 1, 2021, against a private company and others including its Directors, three employees and private persons(conduits) and subsequent raids were carried out at 20 locations across India including Delhi NCR, Patna Pune and Jamshedpur.

The investigating agency has seized over 20 laptops, seven computers, around 30 post-dated cheques, mark sheets of students and several other documents from these locations.

The JEE Main exam is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) in online mode through which admission to undergraduate level engineering courses B.E, B.Tech takes place. NITs, IIITs and IITs also take admission through JEE mains. JEE Main is the gateway to the IIT entrance - JEE Advanced.

Read More:

• JEE Main 2021: 4th Attempt Result (by Sept 10), Answer Key, Question Paper, Dates, Admit Card
• Controversy around new course 'needless', university place for free-thinking: JNU VC