New Delhi, 16 June

The government on Tuesday temporarily restricted access to the Telegram messaging app ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination, with the National Testing Agency saying the measure was aimed at tackling cheating rackets and misinformation.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), acting on recommendations made by the National Testing Agency (NTA), has issued a direction under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, restricting access to the Telegram platform in India for a defined and limited period ending 22 June 2026, covering the day of the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination and its immediate aftermath.

A separate direction requires Telegram to disable in India the message-editing feature for already-posted messages till June 30, addressing the specific structural feature through which the platform has been used to fabricate after-the-event "paper leak" evidence in respect of national examinations, the NTA said in a statement.

"Both measures have been taken in the interest of public order, in response to the organised use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates appearing for the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination scheduled on 21 June 2026," the NTA said.

The medical-entrance examination held on 3 May was cancelled amidst allegations of irregularities, leaving lakhs of aspirants in despair. The re-test is scheduled to be held on 21 June.

The agency expressed its gratitude to MeitY for what it described as a "timely action" taken in the interest of students and said it would help ensure the conduct of "safe and secure examinations" on 21 June.

The NTA said the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, has served as the principal nodal agency coordinating the operational response to the Telegram-based fraud and misinformation targeting NEET candidates.

According to the agency, acting on inputs from the NTA, state law-enforcement agencies, including the police forces of Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan, and its own monitoring efforts, I4C secured the prompt takedown of 'substantial number' of Telegram channels, groups and bots that openly advertised fraudulent and misleading purposes.

"NTA places on record that the intelligence-sharing and coordinated take-down action led by the Ministry of Home Affairs, through I4C, and MeitY has been continuous, prompt and substantive, and remains the operational backbone of the response," the statement said.

"This sustained inter-agency effort, well in advance of the present platform-level action, is the reason the harm caused by these rackets has been contained to the extent it has," it added.

The agency said the directions were issued after references from the NTA and the Department of Higher Education highlighting the limitations of channel-by-channel action and seeking platform-level compliance.

"The directions are a measure of last resort, taken only after intermediate remedies, including the take-down action coordinated by I4C, had been pursued and had not produced, at the platform level, the response required to protect candidates in the run-up to the examination," it said.

"The calibration of the directions - a narrow platform-access restriction confined to the examination window, together with a feature-specific compliance direction for the post-examination period - reflects an effort to address the public-order concern with the minimum restriction necessary," it added.

The NTA said over the preceding weeks, channels operating openly on the platform under names that themselves advertised their purpose - "PAPER LEAKED NEET", "Re-NEET 2026", "Private Mafia", "REE NEET MAFIAA" and similar formulations - demanded sums ranging from a few thousand to several lakhs of rupees from candidates and their families, in exchange for purported access to the re-examination paper.

"NTA has placed on the record, and reiterates, that there is no such paper available outside the secured examination chain. The promise of any such material is, in every instance, a fraud," it said.

Explaining the decision to disable the message-editing feature, the agency said the feature, in its present form, permits a channel administrator to edit previously posted messages, including the substitution of attached files such as PDFs, while the original send-time stamp is retained.

"This capability has been used, in respect of multiple recent examinations, to fabricate after-the-event 'paper leak' artefacts," the statement said, adding administrators could edit old messages after an examination to insert the actual question paper and later circulate screenshots as purported proof that the paper had been available beforehand.

"A channel administrator edits an older, innocuous message to insert the actual question paper after the examination has been conducted, and the resulting chat is then circulated as purported "evidence" that the paper was in circulation before the examination," it said.

"The MeitY direction closes this avenue of fabrication for the post-examination window in which such artefacts have historically been deployed," it added.

The NTA also cited actions taken by state law enforcement agencies.

It said the Bihar Police Economic Offences Unit had issued a public advisory on 9 June, warning candidates against fraudulent claims of pre-examination access to the paper circulated through Telegram and other platforms.

The Ahmedabad City Cyber Crime Branch, it said, had arrested members of an inter-State cyberfraud gang found to be operating eight Telegram channels in furtherance of the same modus operandi, with documented transactions of approximately Rs 1.5 crore routed through fraudulent bank accounts and approximately one thousand mobile numbers contacted in a single month. Investigations are in progress in multiple other States.

Acknowledging inconvenience to legitimate users of the platform, the NTA said lakhs of people use Telegram for personal, educational, professional and informational purposes and regrets the inconvenience caused to them.

"The access restriction is, by its express terms, confined to the period ending 22 June 2026 -- i.e. the day after the examination," it said, adding the message-editing restriction would not affect ordinary use of the platform for sending or receiving new messages.

The agency reiterated that the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination would be conducted as scheduled on 21 June.

"The security of the examination is unaffected by the action taken; it is, in fact, the very purpose of the action. Every candidate and parent is reassured of NTA's commitment to conducting a fair, secure and credible examination," it said.

Candidates were urged to rely only on official NTA channels and the NTA website for examination-related information and to ignore unverified content circulating online.

The agency also advised the public to report any fraudulent solicitations through the National Cyber Crime Helpline (1930) or the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and said NTA helplines would remain available for assistance.