Convicted CS:GO Cheater Forsaken's Five Year Ban To Be Lifted This Week

Nikhil "Forsaken" Kumawat, the infamous CS:GO player from India who represented the nation through Optic India, is finally getting unbanned after five long years. Exposed for using hacks under the 'word.exe' moniker during the eXTREMESLAND Asia Finals in 2018, he was banned from partaking in esports events for five years which is now set to expire in a week. His actions sullied the name of the Indian gaming community, forcing Optic to withdraw from the Indian scene, setting a budding CS:GO ecosystem back by half a decade in the nation.

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Forsaken Counter-Strike Ban To Be Lifted By ESIC In A Week

In early 2018, Forsaken was chosen for the newly formed OpTic India all-star CS: GO team which was led by Vishal "haiVaan" Sharma. Antidote and Marzil, two other promising professionals who had established a solid reputation, were the other members of the team. After the eXTREMESLAND 2018 Finals, Forsaken was ultimately caught, and the team was broken up. The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) issued a five-year ban to the esports player. Later on it was discovered that he had cheated in numerous competitions including the replayed ESL India Premiership 2018 Fall Finals. Since then, Forsaken has only made one public statement and deactivated all his social media profiles.

Following the incident, ESIC released the following statement:

As Optic India had won the ESL India Premiership the previous week and ESL India is a member of ESIC, we asked them to examine Optic India’s and Kumawat’s performance specifically to see if it was possible that he cheated in their event, The evidence that emerged indicates beyond reasonable doubt that Kumawat cheated during the ESL India Premiership.

In an exclusive statement to AFK Gaming on 24 October 2018, Forsaken had the following to say to the audience and his teammates:

 I am extremely sorry to my teammates, OpTic management, and the people who always put their trust in me over the facts. I feel guilty for stealing away opportunities from my teammates. each one was extremely talented and I have jeopardized their chances of being where they deserve. If I could go back I would probably delete the day when I first played ‘Counter-Strike,” he said. “Nothing good has happened to me since the day I started playing the game. I thought this game was for me, but since last almost one year I have not been loyal to it. I worked hard but I wasn’t loyal. I gave everything away for the game, I always put this game above everything else and today I realize what I have lost.

In a week from now, Nikhil "Forsaken" Kumawat will have his ESIC ban uplifted while his Valve ban continues till 2024.