2 arrested for hacking into Indian Air Force’s online NCO recruitment exam

Two people were arrested for allegedly hacking into the Indian Air Force’s online exam to recruit non-commissioned officers in Rohtak, police said Saturday.

The accused persons managed to get remote access to computers used in the examination by setting up a parallel system at a private hospital adjacent to the exam centre on Hisar-Rohtak road, according to Jagbir Singh, the SHO of Rohtak city police station.

The fraudsters were answering the questions with the help of experts while the candidates were siting idle, he said.

Five computers were hacked, the SHO said, adding that the exam was to be held from September 13 to 16.

The exam was being conducted by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, which had outsourced it to another agency, Singh said.

A fibre cable was laid from the exam centre to the first floor of an adjacent private hospital, he said.

In the hospital, five men were found sitting with their laptops and sending exam questions to experts, the SHO said.

Two people, including the invigilator of the outsourced agency, were arrested, he said, adding that they were identified as Jatinder Siwach and Sahil.

The accused persons used to charge ₹3.50 to ₹6 lakh from the aspirants.

According to the police, a few other people were also involved in the incident.

Among those who are absconding are J S Dahiya, a retired principal of ITI Jhajjar, his partner Sanjay Ahlawat, who runs a competitive exams coaching centre, Hardik, Sombir and Aditya, who runs a computer company in Gurgaon, Singh said.