CAPF deployment, digital sweep & social media watch: Government ramps up security for NEET retest

4 min readAhmedabadJun 18, 2026 06:07 AM IST

There are separate frisking facilities for male and female candidates.

THE GUJARAT Police are on high alert ahead of the re-NEET examination scheduled for June 21 across the country. The state has a total of 211 examination centres for the National Eligibility-and-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2026, and has 79,411 candidates registered to appear for the same.

The Indian Express has learnt that one police personnel would be deployed for every 80 candidates at the examination centres. This is more than the ratio of police personnel deployed for the Lok Rakshak Dal (LRD) exams, where the ratio was 75:1. However, the total number of personnel has not been disclosed.

Sources said the local police deployment is apart from the traffic police that will be deployed to manage the routes to them, making sure candidates are able to reach on time. An undisclosed large number of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel will be deployed in the districts with examination centres.

A statement issued by the Home Department on Wednesday said, “Gujarat DGP G S Malik chaired a statewide video conference on Tuesday to review preparations for NEET-UG scheduled on June 21. Detailed deployment guidelines were issued, with police personnel to be stationed at examination centres based on the number of candidates. Authorities were directed to maintain strict surveillance on photocopy and xerox centres located near examination venues and ensure full compliance with National Testing Agency (NTA) guidelines.”

On Wednesday, The Indian Express spoke to IGP (Law and Order) Makrand Chauhan, who is the State Nodal Officer for NEET-UG on behalf of the Gujarat Police.

Asked about special initiatives in light of a paper leak that led to the NEET-UG exam getting cancelled in May this year, IG Chauhan said, “Between June 19 and 21, there will be night patrolling at all exam centres so that electronic devices cannot be planted near them. Further, we are keeping an eye on messaging apps. Social media surveillance is also underway to detect rumour-mongering regarding the examination.”

On Monday, the Cybercrime Branch of Ahmedabad City Police said they arrested two men from Rajasthan who cheated several persons via Telegram by allegedly fraudulently claiming to have the re-NEET question paper and would sell it to them. JCP Sharad Singhal clarified that the accused had made false claims about possessing the re-NEET question paper, “No material related to NEET or any other examination was recovered from their possession.”

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Meanwhile, the Gujarat Police will also keep under surveillance all those previously accused or convicted of leaking other examination papers.

On traffic management, and movement of candidates between districts, IG Chauhan told The Indian Express, “While most of the districts in Gujarat have NEET-UG centres, we are expecting the maximum movement of candidates to be towards the four major cities of Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot. There will be traffic police deployment near the centres, as well as railway stations and bus stands to make sure no candidates face problems in reaching the centres.”

There are separate frisking facilities for male and female candidates.

The statement from the Home Department said, “Police units have been instructed to conduct thorough yet sensitive frisking of candidates, particularly female students, while ensuring courteous treatment of parents and guardians. Separate arrangements have been ordered for the safe deposit of mobile phones, smart watches and other prohibited electronic devices at examination centres.”

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As June 21 is also International Day of Yoga, the DGP instructed police units to deploy separate manpower for Yoga Day programmes and examination duties to avoid any inconvenience to NEET candidates.