The Centre has temporarily restricted access to the Telegram messaging platform in India until June 22 ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination, following recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA) to curb cheating rackets and misinformation.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued the direction under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, covering the examination on June 21 and its immediate aftermath. A separate order requires Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30.

According to the NTA, the measures were taken after organised groups allegedly used Telegram channels, groups and bots to sell fake access to examination papers and spread misleading information among candidates.

The agency said the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, coordinated efforts with state police forces and secured the removal of several Telegram channels and groups involved in the alleged fraud.

The NTA said platform-level action was considered necessary after channel-by-channel takedowns failed to adequately address the issue. It described the restrictions as limited measures intended to protect the integrity of the examination process.

The agency said Telegram’s message-editing feature had been used in previous examinations to create fabricated evidence of paper leaks by inserting actual question papers into older messages while retaining original timestamps.

The NTA also cited investigations by state agencies, including action by the Bihar Police Economic Offences Unit and arrests made by the Ahmedabad City Cyber Crime Branch in connection with Telegram-based examination fraud.

Acknowledging inconvenience to legitimate users, the agency said the access restriction would remain in force only until June 22, while the message-editing curbs would not affect the sending or receiving of new messages.

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

Inputs from PTI

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