In the ongoing investigation under the JEE Main scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested seven including two lab technicians, one assistant professor, and a peon, all working at a Private College of Engineering in Sonipat, Haryana.

All four have been accused of entering into a conspiracy with directors and staff of Affinity education to subvert the exams for JEE mains 2021. Two directors of Affinity Education were earlier arrested by CBI and sent to their custody till September 9.

CBI in its investigation has found that exam consoles and computers at the Sonepat centre were hacked and remotely controlled from places like Jamshedpur in Jharkhand. The arrested staff members at the Sonepat centre have allegedly aided the hacking in lieu of money. Rs 12- Rs 15 lakh were paid by each candidate who succeeded in the exams and got a seat at the National Institutes of Technology.

CBI said that the accused used to obtain class 10th and 12th marksheets, the user IDs, passwords, and post-dated cheques of aspiring students as security. Once admission was done, they used to collect a heavy amount of money ranging from Rs 12- Rs 15 lakh (approx) per candidate. Hawala angle to the money transfer is also being investigated.

Suspects who are being questioned have told CBI, as per sources, that students from across the country were asked to opt for Sonepat as their exam centre. “Even if the aspirant was in Maharashtra s/he was asked to choose Sonepat as exam centre. The staff here turned a blind eye to the fact that an expert sitting in some other part of the country took the exam on behalf of the student,” an official said.

As many as 25 laptops, seven computers, around 30 post-dated cheques along with voluminous incriminating documents and devices including PDC’s mark sheet of different students were recovered during the raids by CBI in Delhi- NCR, Indore, Pune, Bengaluru, and Sonepat.

A statement from CBI last week said, “in consideration of the huge amount of money the conspirators were facilitating scam by solving the question paper of the applicant through remote access from a chosen examination centre in Sonepat(Haryana).’

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