Hyderabad | Five students were booked here for alleged malpractice during the JEE Advanced entrance examination held on June 4 using an instant messaging platform, police said on Wednesday.

The five students, who are all friends and appeared for the JEE Advanced exam, were caught by the officials from different exam centres with mobile phones that they allegedly used for copying in the computer-based test, they said.

JEE Advance exam is the entrance test that determines admissions for aspiring students to the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

The alleged cheating came to light after an invigilator caught a candidate with a cell phone at an exam centre in Mallapur midway through the exam, they said. After verifying his phone, the authorities found questions and answers of the ongoing exam in a group which they created in the messaging app. His brother, a member of the group, who too was writing the exam was also caught for allegedly copying.

After being alerted by the exam authorities, another candidate who was writing the exam at a centre in Secunderabad was caught with a mobile phone and it was found that he was sharing the answers in the group, a police official said adding this candidate was a topper of SSC and Intermediate exams.

Subsequently, two other candidates who were members of the group and writing the exam at other centres were also caught, police said.

The students had hid the phones in their innerwear while the candidate who took the exam in Secunderabad had hid the phone in his shoe, police said.

Cases were registered against the students in different police stations on charges of cheating and other sections under the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Telangana Public Examination (Prevention of Malpractice and Unfair Means) Act, police said.

Notices were issued to the students as part of further inquiry, they added.