Optic India has been disqualified from the eXTREMESLAND ZOWIE Asia CS: GO 2018 tournament with immediate effect. The only Indian representative at the tournament, an Optic Indian player was found to be using cheats at the LAN event.

Nikhil ‘forsaken’ Kumawat was found using hacks at the LAN event. The team already lost their first match to Frostfire with an embarrassing 16-6 scoreline. They were ready to play Crazyguy’s Team Revolution in a knockout Best of Three series. The first map was Cache and Optic India had a strong start. However, in the middle of the map, the match was paused by the admins who wanted to check Forsaken’s computer.

Something’s seriously off during the OptiC India vs Revolution game. We’re not sure what it is but stay tuned for updates… ???? #eXTREMESLAND2018 pic.twitter.com/ZcDxagLOAh — CSGO2ASIA (@CSGO2ASIA) October 19, 2018

There was something obviously wrong as the admins and the players were busy trying to figure somethings out. Soon it was announced on the CSGOAsia Twitter that Optic India has been disqualified from the event. Forsaken was using cheats which were flagged off by the B-5 Anti-Cheat in use at the LAN tournament.

When the admin went to inspect the computer he spotted a suspicious program running in the background. Forsaken tried to quickly delete and uninstall the program in an attempt to evade any punishment. However, the anti-cheat trigger, as well as this suspicious activity, was deemed enough by the admins.

forsaken was trying to refuse the referee’s check #eXTREMESLAND2018

via Weibo@alex卞正伟 pic.twitter.com/gC5yn005n5 — 辛味。 (@liuxinwei0102) October 19, 2018

You can clearly see in this video posted by Twitter user @liuxinwei0102 where Forsaken tries to clean up his act. His teammate looks on at Forsaken as he is truly at wit’s end on what to do next.

Forsaken is no longer associated with Optic India

While CSGO2Asia announced that Forsaken will be on the next flight home, there was a formal announcement soon after. Optic India removed Forsaken from the roster. They also stated that the other four players had no idea of Forsaken using any kind of cheats.

While Optic India will issue a formal announcement very soon, the OpTic Gaming International Development Director Jesal Parekh confirmed the same. The tournament was the biggest opportunity for Optic India and Forsaken decided to squander the chance at being relevant. His career is definitely over as an esports athlete. From a viewer’s perspective, it is indeed sad to see Forsaken hamper the chances of his teammates to make it big in Asian Counter-Strike. For now, Optic India will be heading home in shame.

Several members of the CS: GO community had something to say about this. BnTeT who is one of the most well-known Asian Counter-Strike players mentions that many people knew he was using cheats but without a means to prove it, they did not say anything.

lol forsaken from optic india finally caught cheat on LAN, most of us already knkw that he is cheating from sostronk next, gg so embarrassing — Hansel Ferdinand (@BnTeTCSGO) October 19, 2018

Other players from India were very vocal about Forsaken possibly using hacks or some sort of advantage. However, with multiple anti-cheat platforms failing to detect said hacks, Optic India did not doubt their decision to sign him on their contract.

Since 2016 when I called him hacker on his face — Tejas Sawant (@rite2ace) October 19, 2018

This is a sad day for Indian esports scene. With Optic Gaming and Dreamhack investing in Indian esports, things are still looking good for the future. However, this incident is bound to impact the scene.

We will update you with the official statement from Optic Gaming.

Edit: Optic India has announced that it is letting go of its entire roster.

https://twitter.com/OpTicIndia/status/1053342722122268672