Jharkhand Police have busted a high-tech cheating racket during the SSC GD constable recruitment examination in Ranchi, leading to the arrest of four individuals involved in remotely hacking the computer systems.
Jharkhand Police have arrested a 20-year-old candidate and three others, all from Bihar, for their alleged involvement in a high-tech cheating during the SSC GD constable recruitment examination at a centre in Ranchi, a senior officer said on Friday.
The arrests were made on Thursday at the online examination centre under the Tatisilway police station area following a tip-off about an attempt to hack the computer systems, police said.
The accused have been identified as candidate Mrityunjay Kumar Yadav (20) of Siwan district, invigilator Sanjeet Kumar (25) from Nalanda district, centre superintendent Vikash Kumar (29) and IT staffer Munna Raj (29), all residents of Bihar.
Ranchi (Rural) Superintendent of Police Gaurav Goswami said a Special Investigation Team (SIT), during an inspection at the centre, found that the candidate had restarted the computer system shortly before the examination began, violating standard procedure.
During questioning, police found that the system was being remotely accessed, raising suspicion of screen mirroring and hacking, the SP said.
Further investigation revealed that the centre superintendent and the IT staffer had allegedly set up a computer system at a house around 50 metres away from the examination centre and were solving questions after hacking the systems through internet and IP access.
Police said the accused disclosed that a middleman from Bihar had arranged the candidate's "setting" for Rs 6 lakh with the help of the centre operator and staff.
The middleman had allegedly kept the candidate's original educational certificates as security, they said.
The accused also revealed that amounts ranging between Rs 6 lakh and Rs 10 lakh were being charged for such arrangements.
Police suspect the involvement of an organised gang in facilitating malpractice in online examinations. Raids are being conducted to arrest other members of the network, officials said.
Police have seized two computer monitors, three CPUs, a WiFi device, two keyboards, two computer mice, three mobile phones, the candidate's admit card and Aadhaar card, five bank cheques and original educational certificates of two other candidates.
A case has been registered at Tatisilway police station and the accused have been sent to judicial custody, officials said.
On May 10, six candidates, including three from Bihar, were arrested for allegedly using similar digital methods to cheat in the same examination at another computer centre in Ranchi.