A 19-year-old man from Pune was apprehended by the cyber cell of Navi Mumbai police on suspicion of hacking into the website of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission. It is alleged that he illegally gained access to the site and obtained hall ticket information belonging to candidates who were appearing for the Group B and C non-gazetted personnel exams.
The man was held from Chikli after a raid on his house, which netted a desktop, a laptop, three mobile phones and one router on Wednesday, Navi Mumbai police commissioner Milind Bharambe told reporters.
During a press conference, the commissioner revealed that on April 20 of this year, the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) had included an external link on its website to facilitate examinees in obtaining their hall tickets. However, the accused individual managed to hack into this specific link and illicitly copied the personal information of 94,195 candidates. Subsequently, the perpetrator illegally published these details on a Telegram channel named 'MPSC 2023 A'.
Upon receiving a complaint from an MPSC official, a case was registered at CBD Belapur police station under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act. The investigation was subsequently handed over to the cyber cell.