Four Hyderabadi juveniles have been booked for attempting to cheat their way into a prestigious engineering college by using mobile phones during their Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) (Advanced) 2023 exam which was held on Sunday, June 4. According to a report by The New Indian Express, the mastermind behind this is a top scorer from the Andhra Pradesh Board Class X and Class XII exam. He collaborated with three other friends in an attempt to secure seats in the same institution.
How did they do it?
The report states that the four juveniles hid their phone inside their shoes and their undergarments and only one of them was initially caught at the exam centre. The confession of this candidate led the police to the other three friends and cases have been registered in Market, Nacharam, LB Nagar, and Malkajgiri police stations against them under the provisions of the Telangana Public Examinations (Prevention of Malpractices and Unfair Means) Act, 1997, and the IPC.
Here's what the police say
The police told The New Indian Express, the four candidates, considered juveniles in conflict with the law, were assigned separate exam centres across the city. Using mobile phones, they answered the JEE question paper among themselves.
According to the police, the first student was found using a smartphone in an exam centre in Dilsukhnagar while being caught red-handed by an examiner. The investigation uncovered a scheme hatched by his accomplice, who not only scored highly in both Class X and Class XII, but was also taking the test at the Secunderabad SVIT site. All four boys were roommates in a hostel in Gachibowli.
“The juvenile who masterminded it created a WhatsApp group and shared his responses by capturing a photo of the computer screen. The remaining three boys then accessed the solutions remotely,” said K Mamatha, Sub-Inspector with Market police station. The students’ guardians have received notices under Section 41 of the CrPC and they are required to appear before the District Probation Office.
The JEE, which is an important prerequisite exam for admission to the country's top engineering schools, was administered on Sunday, June 4.