India Blocks Telegram Access Amid NEET Exam Cheating Probe

File photo: Telegram

The government has blocked access to Telegram until June 22, with the centre acting against cheating rackets that were using the messaging platform to defraud students ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) ordered the restriction under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, moving on recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA) days before lakhs of medical aspirants sit the re-test on June 21. The block is time-bound. Access stays restricted until June 22, covering exam day and its immediate aftermath. In a separate direction, Telegram has been told to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30, shutting down a tool the NTA says has been repeatedly misused to manufacture fake “paper leak” proof after exams wrap up. The NTA called the action calibrated and necessary. “The directions have been issued in the interest of public order, in response to the organised use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates appearing for the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination,” the agency said. It thanked MeitY for stepping in quickly, adding the measures would help conduct the re-exam safely on June 21. The backdrop here matters. Last month, authorities scrapped the original NEET-UG exam after discovering its questions had leaked, then scheduled the fresh sitting for June 21. Telegram channels moved fast to cash in on the chaos.

Why the government wants Telegram’s message-editing feature disable

In addition to the full platform block, the government direction also targets Telegram’s message-editing feature. Telegram lets a channel admin rewrite an old post—swapping out attached PDFs and files—while keeping the original send-time stamp intact. According to the NTA, fraudsters used this to fake leaks: an admin edits an innocuous older message, drops in the actual question paper after the exam is done, then circulates the chat as “evidence” the paper was floating around beforehand. Disabling the feature for the post-exam window closes that door. The NTA stressed it doesn’t stop anyone from sending or receiving new messages. The channels advertised their purpose openly. They ran under names like “PAPER LEAKED NEET,” “Re-NEET 2026,” “Private Mafia” and “REE NEET MAFIAA,” openly advertising the scam. Operators demanded anything from a few thousand rupees to several lakhs from candidates and their families in exchange for supposed access to the re-exam paper. The NTA flatly denied any such paper exists outside the secured chain. Every promise of it, the agency said, is a fraud.

I4C, Bihar police, Ahmedabad Cyber Cell: Inside the crackdown

The block wasn’t a sudden switch. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, has been the nodal agency coordinating the response, acting on inputs from the NTA and state police forces in Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan. I4C, with MeitY’s backing, had already pulled down a large number of Telegram channels, groups and bots peddling fake paper promises. State agencies acted in parallel. Bihar Police’s Economic Offences Unit issued a public advisory on June 9, warning candidates against fraudulent claims of pre-exam paper access. In Gujarat, the Ahmedabad City Cyber Crime Branch arrested members of an inter-state fraud gang running eight Telegram channels with the same playbook—investigators traced roughly Rs 1.5 crore in transactions through fake bank accounts and nearly 1,000 mobile numbers contacted in a single month. The Central Bureau of Investigation is running a parallel inquiry, and probes are underway in several other states.

Why the NTA pushed for a full Telegram block

The NTA framed the platform-wide block as a measure of last resort. Taking down channels one by one had structural limits—operators simply spun up new ones—so the agency and the Department of Higher Education pushed for graduated, platform-level compliance instead. The restriction is deliberately narrow, the NTA said, confined to the exam window to keep disruption to a minimum. The agency acknowledged the block inconveniences lakhs of users who rely on Telegram for legitimate personal, professional and educational use, and said it regretted that. The re-exam, it reiterated, goes ahead as planned on June 21. Candidates have been urged to ignore unverified content, trust only official NTA channels and the website (neet.nta.nic.in), and report any fraudulent approach to the cybercrime helpline on 1930.