The Hayathnagar police in Hyderabad have registered a case against seven persons for allegedly cheating on the Duolingo English Test, an online eligibility test used for university admissions in the USA, Ireland, Australia, and other countries. All the seven accused — four candidates, two facilitators, and a student who writes the test on behalf of the candidates — were apprehended by a special operation team (SOT) of the LB Nagar zone on Monday, February 19, according to reports. The police said the ‘mediators’ charged candidates money to the tune of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 with a guarantee that they will get passing scores.

The SOT team nabbed three of the accused from a room in a lodge at Hayathnagar, which they raided on the basis of a tip-off. On interrogation, the accused revealed that they were attending the Duolingo tests. Kandakatla Praveen Reddy (22), a BSc computer science student, was allegedly impersonating the other candidates. Trivedhi Harinath (21), a business administration student, and Banala Krishna (21), a commerce student, have been accused of acting as intermediaries. 

The four candidates who allegedly sought to cheat are Edavally Aravind Reddy (21) and Nenavath Santhosh (21), both engineering students, Malladi Naveen Kumar (26), a computer science student, and Alakuntla Vinay (22), another engineering student. They were also apprehended later.

Five laptops, four passports, and seven mobile phones were also reportedly seized from their possession. A case has been registered under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and further investigation is underway.