NEW DELHI: The CBI has filed an FIR against a private institute and its officials in connection with allegations of irregularities allegedly committed in the ongoing JEE (Mains) 2021 and carried out searches on Thursday at a number of locations in various cities, reports Rajshekhar Jha. Several people are being questioned and multiple arrests are likely, officials said.
The directors and officials of the institute, Affinity Education, were allegedly manipulating the online examination of JEE (Mains) and facilitating aspiring students to get admission in top NITs in consideration of huge amounts by solving question papers through remote access from a chosen examination centre in Sonipat, Haryana.
It has been alleged that the accused used to obtain Class 10 and 12 marksheets, the user IDs, passwords and post-dated cheques from aspiring students in different parts of the country as security and once admission was done, they used to collect a heavy amount, ranging from Rs 12-15 lakh, from each such candidate.
The engineering entrance exam concluded on Thursday. The exam, which is otherwise held twice, was held in four sessions this year.
The agency conducted search operations at 20 premises. In its FIR, the CBI has named three directors — Siddharth Krishna, Vishwambhar Mani Tripathi and Govind Varshney. The searches were conducted in various cities, including in Delhi-NCR, Pune, Bengaluru, Jamshedpur and Indore. The team also landed at the premises of their associates and staff who were posted at the examination centre, the agency said.
“During searches, the agency recovered 25 laptops, 7 computers, around 30 post-dated cheques along with incriminating documents, devices and data of marksheets of different students,” CBI spokesperson R C Joshi said.
The directors and officials of the institute, Affinity Education, were allegedly manipulating the online examination of JEE (Mains) and facilitating aspiring students to get admission in top NITs in consideration of huge amounts by solving question papers through remote access from a chosen examination centre in Sonipat, Haryana.
It has been alleged that the accused used to obtain Class 10 and 12 marksheets, the user IDs, passwords and post-dated cheques from aspiring students in different parts of the country as security and once admission was done, they used to collect a heavy amount, ranging from Rs 12-15 lakh, from each such candidate.
The engineering entrance exam concluded on Thursday. The exam, which is otherwise held twice, was held in four sessions this year.
The agency conducted search operations at 20 premises. In its FIR, the CBI has named three directors — Siddharth Krishna, Vishwambhar Mani Tripathi and Govind Varshney. The searches were conducted in various cities, including in Delhi-NCR, Pune, Bengaluru, Jamshedpur and Indore. The team also landed at the premises of their associates and staff who were posted at the examination centre, the agency said.
“During searches, the agency recovered 25 laptops, 7 computers, around 30 post-dated cheques along with incriminating documents, devices and data of marksheets of different students,” CBI spokesperson R C Joshi said.
