NEET-UG 2026 re-exam: Telegram temporarily banned in India till June 22
The decision has been taken to prevent alleged paper leaks and misinformation campaigns ahead of the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21.
Ahead of the June 21 NEET-UG 2026 re-examination, the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Tuesday banned the social media platform Telegram, where the previous leaked exam paper was circulated.
While many, including Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, have criticised the move, the NTA has defended it, saying scamsters were trying to dupe people in the name of providing a leaked re-exam paper.
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“Channels demanding ₹14,000 to ₹25,000 – some even ₹10 lakh – claiming they’ll send you the re-exam paper. They won’t. There is no leaked paper for the re-exam. The money is gone the moment you transfer it,” NTA Director General Abhishek Singh explained in a video message posted on X.
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To every NEET candidate and parent – please watch this. A few minutes that could save you serious money and stress this week.
Scammers on Telegram were running two rackets targeting you:
1️⃣ Channels demanding ₹14,000 to ₹25,000 – some even ₹10 lakh – claiming they'll send you… pic.twitter.com/aqpickJLAv— National Testing Agency (@NTA_Exams) June 16, 2026
He further claimed that the scamsters would use admit cards and WhatsApp number of students as tools to scam other students.
The NTA DG also flagged another tactic of the scamsters using fake “proof” videos showing chats from before the exam to gain the trust of students.
He explained that Telegram lets its channels edit any old message while the date remains the same.
This feature allows scamsters to edit old messages and change the content of them to make it look like it was posted before the exam date.
“Fake “proof” videos showing chats from before the exam. The trick: on Telegram, whoever runs a channel can edit any old message AND change what’s inside it, while the date on the message stays the same. So a message edited on the 4th can be made to look exactly like it was sent on the 1st,” Singh added.
This comes hours after the Centre imposed a temporary restriction on the messaging platform Telegram across the country until June 22 following recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA).
The decision was taken to contain leaks, if any, and prevent misinformation campaigns ahead of the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21.
Moreover, the platform has also been ordered to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30.
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