JEE (Main) scam: Private consultancy firm charged Rs 15 lakh for assured admission in top engineering colleges

The online examination system for admission in JEE (Main) conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) has come under scanner after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested seven persons of a private consultancy firm for charging up to Rs 15 lakh per candidate to facilitate admissions in top engineering colleges.

A CBI court has sent Affinity Education Directors Siddharth Krishna and Vishambar Mani Tripathi, and its employee Hritik Singh to CBI custody till September 9 in connection with the alleged irregularities in JEE mains exam. The remaining arrested persons will be produced before a magistrate later.

According to a CBI official, the investigation agency going through the records of candidates who took services from Affinity education consultancy firm and appeared in exams conducted by NTA for top engineering colleges.

"The CBI has seized the documents and going through bank account details of this consultancy to get details of other persons involved in the scam. We are also getting details of other suspicious exam centres from NTA. We also got some clues that this consultancy firm has made some transactions through the 'Hawala' Route," the official said.

Sources also informed that the modus operandi adopted by the accused persons was that "they arranged a solver sitting at a remote location for solving the questions which were displayed on the computer terminal allotted to the candidate at the examination centre in connivance with the Centre's authorities."

"The Centre supervisor who had access to the computer network was also a part of the fraudulent act and the solver got access to the system being used by the candidate by using a remote access software. The candidates were directed to pretend that they are operating the computer by keeping their hand on a mouse and making calculations on a sheet so that nothing adverse was recorded on cameras installed at the centre whereas the questions were solved by solvers hired by the accused," they said.

Source further informed that accused persons connived with the supervisors of the JEE(Main) 2021, Session-4 Exam centres at Sonipat and made necessary arrangements for fraudulent practices during the exams.

JEE Main is a central standardised computer-based test for admission to undergraduate programs in engineering, architecture, and planning courses across India.

(ANI)

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