NEET-UG re-exam: India imposes temporary restrictions on Telegram

NEET-UG re-exam: India imposes temporary restrictions on Telegram

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has welcomed the central government's decision to impose temporary restrictions on the messaging platform Telegram.

The move comes ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination, which is scheduled for June 21.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has ordered a ban on access to Telegram in India till June 22, covering the examination period and its immediate aftermath.

NTA says restrictions necessary to prevent fraud

The NTA said the restrictions were aimed at preventing fraud and misinformation targeting NEET candidates.

Cheating rackets had allegedly used Telegram to defraud candidates by promising access to examination papers for a fee.

The agency noted that several channels on the platform demanded money from candidates and their families in exchange for purported access to re-examination papers, which it termed fraudulent activities.

Message-editing feature also disabled

Further, MeitY has also directed Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in India till June 30.

The NTA said this was done to prevent the creation of fabricated "paper leak" evidence by allowing users to edit older messages while retaining original timestamps.

While the agency acknowledged that these restrictions would inconvenience legitimate users of Telegram, it emphasized that they were necessary for maintaining the integrity of the examination process.

NTA thanked MeitY, CBI for efforts to tackle fraud

The NTA has thanked MeitY, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Central Bureau of Investigation, and state police forces for their efforts in tackling examination-related fraud.

The agency reiterated that NEET-UG 2026 re-examination will be conducted as scheduled on June 21 and urged candidates to rely only on official NTA channels for updates.