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New Delhi, June 16, 2026: Following a series of Government initiatives targeting the Indian Telegram, the National Testing Agency (NTA) stated these developments as a preemptive measure to control organized NEET (UG) 2026 June 21 examination-related fraud. These include a temporary complete prohibition of Telegram access in India until June 22, 2023, under the Information Technology Act, 2000, as well as a separate prohibition order mandating Telecommunication to remove message editing for users in India until June 30.
As stated by the NTA, these were introduced after the agency’s recommendation. The NTA would like to appreciate the timely action taken by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The NTA stated these restrictions would assist the NTA in conducting the examination in an organized and fair manner. The NTA also appreciated the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, for their efforts in targeting fraud on Telegram. Reports state that in collaboration with various state police and cybersecurity units, I4C has removed several Channels, groups, and Bots that were used to fraudulently promote the sale of Examination Papers.
The latest instance of action at the platform level was taken only after previous efforts to remove specific problematic channels proved insufficient in addressing the scope of the issue. The agency asserted that the measures would be limited in time and would be aimed at addressing concerns of public order with the least amount of disruption.
Recently, multiple Telegram channels that allegedly operated under names implying that they provide access to leaked exam papers have been demanding payments ranging from thousands to lakhs from students and their families. The NTA warned that no exam papers exist outside of the official secured exam process and that such offers are scams.
A major aspect of the Government's action is the temporary disabling of the message-editing feature. The feature has been abused in the past to edit messages and create fake evidence of so-called "paper leaks" by allowing admins to replace documents in earlier messages while keeping the original timestamp. Those messages have been tampered with and circulated as evidence that exam papers were leaked prior to the exam.
Law enforcement agencies have also stepped up their efforts to investigate the related cybercrimes. The Bihar Police Economic Offences Unit has issued a public advisory to warn students about the fake paper leak and the Ahmedabad City Cyber Crime Branch reportedly arrested members of an inter-state cyber fraud syndicate from multiple Telegram channels that financially target exam candidates.
The NTA confirmed the NEET (UG) 2026 resit will happen on June 21 with exam security intact and the resit’s security policies maintaining exam invigilability. Students and parents are urged to only trust the NTA official statements, as the announcements on social media about the rescheduled exam are unverified. The NTA equally requests that exam-related cyber fraud be reported to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and National Cyber Crime Helpline. The NTA reiterated that they remain committed to the proven, trustworthy, and reliable process of India’s critical entrance exam.
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