LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) on Wednesday arrested a man identified as Arun Kumar alias ‘Devil’, who was allegedly involved in manipulating the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) GD Constable online examination through proxy servers.The accused, who was arrested from the Shahbad Dairy area of Delhi, was wanted in a case registered at Knowledge Park police station in Gautam Buddh Nagar over alleged examination malpractice.According to Additional SP, STF, Raj Kumar Mishra, the investigation revealed that hackers had allegedly manipulated the examination server and connected candidates’ computers to proxy servers, allowing remote solvers to access and control the systems during the examination.
How the alleged hacking worked
The STF said its investigation identified hackers Amit Rana and a person using the alias ‘Devil’ as allegedly being involved in decoding source files of the examination server and making changes required for the operation.These changes allegedly enabled examination computers to connect with proxy servers. The STF said the connection allowed the systems to be accessed remotely from outside the examination centre, facilitating assistance to candidates during the examination.“During the investigation, the STF gathered information that the person operating under the alias ‘Devil’ was Arun Kumar of Shahbad Dairy, Delhi,” Mishra said.Arun Kumar, son of Teja Yadav, is a resident of Shahbad Dairy under Begumpur police station in Delhi and originally belongs to the Paliganj area of Patna, Bihar.
Earlier arrests in SSC GD case
The arrest came after an operation by the Gautam Buddh Nagar STF on May 22, when seven alleged members of the examination-rigging gang, including alleged main accused Pradeep Chauhan and hacker Amit Rana, were arrested from Balaji Digital Zone in Greater Noida, where the SSC GD Constable examination was being conducted.Police had alleged that the gang installed a proxy server and hacked the examination server to establish a connection between candidates’ computers and remote solvers.The STF said the operation allowed remote solvers to assist candidates during the examination. Police had recovered Rs 50 lakh in cash, a proxy server and other electronic equipment during the operation.With Arun’s arrest, the STF said the total number of accused arrested in the case has risen to 12. All of them have been sent to jail, according to the STF.Investigators have also recovered electronic equipment allegedly used in the malpractice, including modified TFT screens fitted with Raspberry Pi devices.
From competitive exam preparation to alleged hacking network
According to the STF, Arun told investigators that he is around 30 years old, has completed a BA degree and underwent a one-year computer fundamentals course at ITI Jahangirpuri in Delhi.The STF said Arun claimed that in 2019, while preparing for competitive examinations in Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi, he came in contact with a man named Manoj from Darbhanga, Bihar, who was involved in conducting online examinations.The STF alleged that Arun learnt computer and hacking techniques while working with Manoj and gradually became proficient in hacking examination servers.He subsequently allegedly began preparing modified TFT screens for use in examination malpractice. Investigators said he came to be known as ‘Devil’ in the hacking network and developed contacts with people allegedly involved in examination malpractice in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand and several northeastern states.
Link to 2024 nursing examination case
The investigation also allegedly linked Arun to a 2024 online Nursing Staff Officer examination malpractice case in Sitapur.An FIR was registered at Talgaon police station in connection with that case. According to the STF, Arun allegedly provided the main accused, identified as Utkarsh, with software on a pen drive that could be used to install a proxy server and reboot the examination system.The STF said Arun had also been wanted in that case.
Alleged role in SSC GD examination
Investigators further found that Arun allegedly played a role in the SSC GD Constable online examination conducted in April-May 2026.According to the STF, he allegedly decrypted certain important files and provided them to another hacker, Amit Kumar.The two allegedly worked together to prepare a script that connected the examination client to a proxy server. The STF alleged that the script was subsequently used to facilitate malpractice in the SSC GD examination conducted by Eduquity.The STF said further investigation was underway to establish Arun’s alleged links with other examination-rigging networks and identify other people who may have been involved.
What was recovered
During Arun’s arrest, investigators recovered 12 opened TFT screens, two laptops, including a ThinkPad and an Apple laptop, a hand-held metal detector, eight VGA switches, 11 Raspberry Pi devices, 14 HDMI video-capture devices, nine USB-to-Type-C adapters, 13 HDTV-VGA adapters, nine TP-Link USB Bluetooth dongles, four VGA-to-HDTV adapters, an Excitel broadband device and two soldering machines.Arun has been brought into the case registered at Knowledge Park police station under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Information Technology Act, the Uttar Pradesh Public Examination Act and The Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.Further investigation is underway.