I decided to compile everything that actually happened this cycle — both the confirmed stuff and the allegations floating around.

**1. THE ARRESTS:** On February 14-15, the Raipur police — specifically a joint team from DD Nagar Police Station and the Anti-Crime and Cyber Unit (ACCU) — busted what they called a "national-level GATE examination cheating racket." Six people were arrested, all from Haryana.

Here's how it worked: Three candidates entered the exam hall at ION Digital Zone, Sarona (Raipur) with Bluetooth devices physically hidden inside their shoes. When they needed to cheat, they'd excuse themselves to the washroom, pop the earpiece in, activate the device, and then read questions aloud to accomplices sitting outside. Those accomplices were at a roadside tea stall about 50 metres from the exam centre, Googling answers in real time and transmitting them back through wireless earpieces. Low-tech in concept, surprisingly high-tech in execution.

Police seized: 8 mobile phones, 4 Bluetooth-enabled devices, 3 Bluetooth earpieces, and other electronics.

The six arrested are:

* **Darshan Sehwag** (26) — Jhajjar district
* **Sumit Sehwag** (30) — Jhajjar district
* **Laxminarayan alias Lucky** (36) — Fatehabad district
* **Amar** (32) — Fatehabad district
* **Bunty Kumar** (38) — Fatehabad district
* **Narendra Kumar** (29) — Hisar district

The last one is especially notable — Narendra Kumar is a mountaineer associated with the Fit India Movement. That detail got picked up by multiple Haryana news outlets.

The equipment was reportedly sourced from Gaffar Market in Delhi, which if you know Delhi's electronics scene, tracks completely.

All six have been charged under the **Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)** and the **Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act**, which carries 3-5 years imprisonment and fines up to ₹10 lakh, with harsher penalties for organised groups. Investigation is ongoing.

**2. THE AIR 1 CONTROVERSEY:** After results dropped on March 19, things got chaotic on social media. A lot of aspirants started questioning some of the top scorers. Here's what was being claimed (I want to be very clear — none of this has been officially verified or investigated):

* GATE Chemical Engineering AIR 1 scored 87.33/100 but reportedly had a sub-7 CGPA and zero presence on any mock test platform
* GATE ECE AIR 1 scored 92/100 with what people called "flagged, inconsistent academic records"
* GATE DA (Data Science & AI) AIR 1 apparently deleted all their social media right after results were declared — which, fair or not, set off a lot of alarm bells

Several YouTube channels ran "GATE 2026 Scam Exposed" videos in late March, and the discourse blew up. However — and this is important — **IIT Guwahati (the organising institute) has not issued any statement** addressing these specific allegations. No FIR, no official inquiry, nothing confirmed. So take the AIR 1 stuff with serious skepticism. It might be people venting post-results frustration, it might be something more. We don't know yet.

**3. THE AFTER EFFECT:** The Raipur shoe-cheating incident had at least one concrete downstream consequence: West Bengal SSC immediately banned covered shoes for their upcoming Group C and D recruitment exams, explicitly citing the difficulty of frisking closed footwear. That tells you how seriously this was taken at a systemic level.

After this GATE 2026's own dress code already banned closed shoes and mandated sandals/flip-flops precisely to prevent this kind of thing. The Raipur centre either missed it during frisking or the enforcement was loose. Either way, it happened.

**TL;DR**

* Real, confirmed bust: 6 people from Haryana arrested in Raipur for a Bluetooth-in-shoes cheating operation during GATE 2026. All charged under the Public Examinations Act.
* AIR 1 controversy: Circulating heavily on social media post-results, but zero official confirmation or action. Treat as unverified.
* The incident has already influenced security policy at other exams across states.

Sources in the comments.

GATE 2026 Cheating - Everything So Far