Counter-Strike pro caught cheating mid-tournament

A Counter-Strike pro was caught cheating mid-tournament - and he tried to delete his hack while an official checked his PC.

OpTic India player Nikhil "Forsaken" Kumawat was collared for using a cheat hack during a match against Vietnamese team Revolution at the Extremeland Zowie Asia tournament in Shanghai.

Following suspicious play, an official accessed his computer before physically preventing Forsaken from tampering with the program right in front of him.

You can see the kerfuffle in the video below.

It looks like Forsaken was using an aimbot program to lock onto enemies. He apparently hid this hack in computer files on his computer.

It's a dramatic moment that's had dire consequences for Forsaken and his team. Dotesports reports Extremeland disqualified OpTic India from the event before OpTic booted Forsaken out of the team. But it got worse: OpTic Gaming has subsequently dropped its entire India-based team following the incident, and officials are investigating whether Forsaken should receive a lifetime ban from CS:GO competition.

This isn't the first time Forsaken was caught cheating. As Dotesports points out, he was banned from ESL tournaments for two years in 2017 after receiving a Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) ban, although the punishment was reduced to six months. It seems now, though, his CS:GO days are well and truly over.