After paper leak row, why Centre has blocked Telegram in India until NEET re-exam

4 min readUpdated: Jun 16, 2026 11:48 AM IST

The ban on Telegram applies till after a day of NEET’s re-examination, which is scheduled for June 21, following the cancellation of the initial May 3 exam due to a paper leak. (Source: Pexels)

The Ministry of Electronics and IT has blocked popular messaging platform Telegram in India until June 22 at the request of the National Testing Agency (NTA), responsible for conducting the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), after the country’s key undergraduate medical entrance exam was cancelled earlier this year due to widespread paper leak allegations and irregularities.

The ban on Telegram applies till after a day of NEET’s re-examination, which is scheduled for June 21, following the cancellation of the initial May 3 exam due to a paper leak. The platform is believed to have been used to circulate leaked questions and communicate with students, middlemen and others linked to the network.

The blocking order has been issued under Section 69(A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The government has also issued a direction to Telegram to disable, in India, its message-editing feature in respect of messages already posted until June 30. This, the NTA said, would address “the specific structural feature through which the platform has been used to fabricate after-the-event ‘paper leak’ evidence in respect of national examinations”.

“The directions are a measure of last resort,” the NTA said.

The rationale behind the ban on Telegram

In a statement, the NTA said that over the last few weeks, Telegram channels operating openly on the platform demanded sums ranging from a few thousand to several lakhs of rupees from candidates and their families, in exchange for purported access to the re-examination paper. As per the NTA, some of these channels were openly advertising their purpose through their names: “PAPER LEAKED NEET”, “Re-NEET 2026”, “Private Mafia”, and “REE NEET MAFIAA”. It clarified that no such papers were available “outside the secured examination chain”.

On June 15, The Indian Express reported that the cybercrime branch of the Ahmedabad city police Monday arrested two men from Rajasthan for allegedly running a racket that defrauded medical aspirants and their parents via Telegram by allegedly claiming to have the NEET (UG) re-examination question paper and offering to sell it to them. The police said that the duo did not possess any leaked documents.

Acting on inputs received from the NTA, from State law-enforcement agencies including the police forces of Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan, and from its own continuous monitoring of public channels and platforms, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has secured the prompt take-down of a “substantial” number of Telegram channels, groups and bots whose names and content openly advertised their fraudulent and misleading purpose, the testing agency said.

Story continues below this ad

Why the direction to disable message-editing

The direction requiring Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in India till June 30 addresses a “separate but related concern”, the NTA said.

According to the testing agency, the feature, in its present form, permits a channel administrator to edit the content of a previously posted message – including the substitution of attached files such as PDFs – while the original send-time stamp is retained.

“This capability has been used, in respect of multiple recent examinations, to fabricate after-the-event ‘paper leak’ artefacts: a channel administrator edits an older, innocuous message to insert the actual question paper after the examination has been conducted, and the resulting chat is then circulated as purported ‘evidence’ that the paper was in circulation before the examination. The MeitY direction closes this avenue of fabrication for the post-examination window in which such artefacts have historically been deployed,” the NTA said.

Soumyarendra Barik is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express, specializing in the complex and evolving intersection of technology, policy, and society. With over five years of newsroom experience, he is a key voice in documenting how digital transformations impact the daily lives of Indian citizens.

Expertise & Focus Areas Barik’s reporting delves into the regulatory and human aspects of the tech world. His core areas of focus include:

The Gig Economy: He extensively covers the rights and working conditions of gig workers in India.

Tech Policy & Regulation: Analysis of policy interventions that impact Big Tech companies and the broader digital ecosystem.

Digital Rights: Reporting on data privacy, internet freedom, and India's prevalent digital divide.

Authoritativeness & On-Ground Reporting: Barik is known for his immersive and data-driven approach to journalism. A notable example of his commitment to authentic storytelling involves him tailing a food delivery worker for over 12 hours. This investigative piece quantified the meager earnings and physical toll involved in the profession, providing a verified, ground-level perspective often missing in tech reporting.

Personal Interests Outside of the newsroom, Soumyarendra is a self-confessed nerd about horology (watches), follows Formula 1 racing closely, and is an avid football fan.

Find all stories by Soumyarendra Barik here. ... Read More

Tags:

NEET