A Chinese man in his 20s was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of cheating on Hitotsubashi University's entrance exam by leaking a test question through social media and soliciting an answer, investigative sources said.
Police in Tokyo are also questioning several other Chinese nationals for their alleged involvement in the cheating during the exam held on Jan. 31 for international applicants, the sources said.
The suspect, arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department on suspicion of obstructing the university's operation, is believed to have contacted several people via social media, asking them to solve an exam question that he would post there during the test, the sources said.
The case came to light after a man in his 20s, who was among the people contacted by the suspect for help, reported the matter to the university.
A photographed image of an exam sheet showing a math question was posted to social media during the test, the sources said, adding questions in other subjects were also likely to have been leaked in the same manner.
Several dozen people were taking the exam at the time, according to the university.
A 19-year-old woman was referred to prosecutors earlier this year for allegedly cheating in a unified university entrance exam in Tokyo by using a similar method. She was suspected of taking a picture of an exam sheet with a smartphone hidden in her sleeve and sending the image of a world history question via video calling app Skype to get outside help.