NTA admits ‘initial shortfalls’ after NEET portal breach, adds new security measures

5 min readAhmedabadJun 15, 2026 04:58 PM IST

NTA Joint Director Akash Jain admitted initial security shortfalls. A man from Bihar was arrested for allegedly attempting to divert student refund amounts (Express photos/Special arrangement).

The National Testing Agency (NTA) acknowledged security gaps in the NEET UG–2026 portal Monday, following a cyber breach in which an accused allegedly accessed hundreds of candidates’ accounts and attempted to divert refund amounts into his own bank account.

At a press conference in Ahmedabad, Akash Jain, the newly appointed NTA Joint Director, attempted to reassure students and parents that the administration is taking significant action against those involved in the NEET paper leak and increasing security measures in the wake of the cyber breach.

“A two-step security feature has been added, we have enabled OTP for mobile phones and are trying to make it an Aadhaar-enabled system. Our job was to refund the amount to the students. We had initial shortfalls in the system, but with this investigation now, we have learned and strengthened the system.”

Jain’s remarks came during a joint press conference with Ahmedabad Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP) Sharad Singhal. The briefing was held to address public anxieties following the recent cancellation of the NEET-UG exam due to paper leaks, and to announce the arrest of a suspect who was allegedly siphoning off students’ exam fee refunds directly from the NTA portal.

Refund diversion scam

The police statement touched upon a case registered at the cybercrime police station in Ahmedabad in which the accused had allegedly created a false identity of the complainant’s daughter, stolen her NEET examination application number and password.

“By illegally using these login credentials without her knowledge or consent, the accused gained unauthorised access to the NEET UG–2026 portal and attempted to fraudulently obtain the refund amount by entering the bank account details of another person for receiving the refund,” the statement said.

“The accused persons, who stole the login credentials, accessed the portal and entered false bank account details, acted in furtherance of a pre-planned criminal conspiracy. By concealing their true identities and assisting each other, they cheated the complainant and committed a criminal breach of trust,” it added.

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The police filed an FIR following a complaint from the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of the National Testing Agency (NTA). The police arrested Navinkumar Shankar Prasad Yadav, 19, a resident of Gaya district in Bihar, using technical analysis of bank account details along with human intelligence inputs, said JCP Singhal.

Speaking on modus operandi, the police statement said, “The accused, Navin Kumar, targeted the portal accounts of approximately 350 candidates who had registered for the NEET examination. By taking advantage of the fact that around 150 candidates had set simple and weak passwords, he unlawfully gained access to their accounts by logging into the NEET portal without authorisation. After accessing the accounts, the accused discovered that the candidates were eligible to receive refunds of the fees paid by them.”

It further stated, “With the dishonest intention of diverting these refund amounts to himself, he altered the bank account details of the students available on the portal and replaced them with his own bank account details so that the refund amounts would be credited to his account.”

NEET re-exam preparation

As the NTA gets ready for the NEET UG re-examination on June 21, following the cancellation of the initial May 3 exam due to a paper leak, Joint Director Jain said, “We don’t want students to feel they are being cheated again. The retest will be conducted with high security measures, with the government’s assistance. The examination will be fair, and I appeal to students not to pay attention to negative things like Telegram and Instagram channels. They should prepare for the exams.”

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When asked about the preparations being made this time, Jain, a 2013 batch IRS officer and one of two joint directors appointed to the NTA in May, said, “At the moment, we cannot disclose the precautions we have implemented.”

“But whatever, security features required in terms of question paper making or their transportation, have been incorporated and that too, in such a short time as we are organising the examination in 30-40 days instead of 6 months. This is an achievement in which all governments are helping us. This is not just an examination but something to improve the image of the education system. I hope it is conducted well.”