Earlier this week, a report by Spieltimes suggested that ex OpTic India player Nikhil “forsaken” Kumawat had been found using the same cheats at the ESL India Fall Premiership Finale as he did at EXTREMESLAND, after his SSD, containing mouse and keyboard configurations and other settings were checked.

Confirming the report, ESL India in a statement on Facebook also said that they would be investigating all the 20 players involved for potential hacks.

“Based on the proof from Zowie eXTREMESLAND Asia Finals, we at ESL India are investigating all the 20 players in the #ESLIndiaPremiership Finale for any potential cheats on their drives. On immediate inspection, we have discovered the same cheat program that was used by Forsaken in Shanghai on the SSD he used at the ESL India Premiership Fall Finale and have shared this evidence with the Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC).

We at ESL India have considered this a Level 4 offense under the Code of Conduct of ESIC. The Commissioner of ESIC is conducting an independent inquiry and will deliver his verdict soon.”

They also confirmed that forsaken had been found with the same cheats as was suspected at EXTREMESLAND, with the infamous word.exe file being at the forefront. According to many sources, the cheats the 23-year-old used was by a company named “ez frags”, which claimed to provide VAC proof cheating solutions, and involved a method of including a picture in the screenshots folder of the steam app, which could be then used as a trigger bot.

While Forsakens career is all but over, the future of OpTic India is in huge doubt after reports suggested its India operations might shut down all together. The future of the other 4 players is also uncertain, who, although allowed for the Asia Pro League, are without a team and a 5th player.