Ahead of NEET-UG retest, govt temporarily blocks Telegram till June 22

The Centre announced on Tuesday that it would temporarily block access to Telegram until June 22, a day after the NEET-UG re-examination. This step is taken in order to curb the spread of fake question papers, misinformation and paper leak claims. Acting on the recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA), the messaging platform has also been directed to disable its message-editing feature through June 30. This was done to address the “specific structural feature through which the platform has been used to fabricate after-the-event ‘paper leak’ evidence in respect of national examinations,” NTA’s statement read.

The agency noted that several groups and channels were demanding large sums of money by promising access to the re-examination paper. “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.” The NTA has clearly stated that there is no such paper available outside the secured examination chain.

How the message-editing feature has been misused

The NTA said that this feature permits a channel administrator to edit the content of a previously posted message - 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: 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,” said the statement.

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

Coordinated efforts from other agencies

The NTA said that multiple agencies have collaborated, along with the help of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, to monitor and take prompt actions to curb fraud and misinformation. “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 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 (UG) 2026 candidates. Acting on inputs received continuously from NTA, from State law-enforcement agencies including the police forces of Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan, and from its own continuous monitoring of public channels and platforms, I4C has secured the prompt take-down of a substantial number of Telegram channels, groups and bots whose names and content openly advertised their fraudulent and misleading purpose,” the statement read.

The agency also highlighted how the Ahmedabad City Cyber Crime Branch 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 ₹1.5 crore routed through fraudulent bank accounts and approximately one thousand mobile numbers contacted in a single month. Meanwhile, investigations are in progress in multiple other States.

The testing organisation also noted that this temporary ban would affect many citizens who use the Telegram platform for legitimate personal, educational, professional and informational purposes, and sincerely regrets the inconvenience caused to them. The access restriction is till ending 22 June 2026, i.e. the day after the examination. The feature-specific direction in respect of the message editing function, which remains in force through 30 June 2026, does not affect ordinary use of the platform for sending or receiving new messages.