The Central Bureau of Investigation of India (analogous to the American FBI) ​​announced the detention of a Russian citizen who is accused of hacking the platform used to conduct the JEE-Main exam in 2021. This exam is conducted for admission to various engineering universities in the country.
Law enforcers report that the accused was detained by immigration control at Delhi International Airport when he arrived in India from Kazakhstan. Although the official press release does not give the Russian’s name, local media claims his name is Mikhail Shargin.
According to Indian authorities, the defendant is linked to the September 2021 hack of the iLeon platform, which ran a standardized JEE test. It is alleged that the platform was compromised in order to provide remote access to a certain group of people who ended up taking the exam on behalf of the students.
It is reported that such cheating on the exam was not cheap: each student was charged approximately $14,700–$18,400 to pass the JEE-Main.
The Central Bureau of Investigation of India reports that in connection with this investigation, searches took place in 19 different locations, including the cities of Delhi, Pune, Jamshedpur, Indore and Bangalore, as a result of which 25 laptops, seven desktop computers, as well as other evidence were confiscated.
