Delhi: The National Testing Agency (NTA) announced on Tuesday that the Centre has restricted access to the messaging platform Telegram in India until June 22, 2026, ahead of the NEET UG 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21. In a major regulatory intervention, the Government of India invoked Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, to temporarily restrict access to Telegram across the country. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued these directions following recommendations by the NTA and the Department of Higher Education to check organised cheating rackets. 
Why Was the Ban Imposed? According to the NTA, the ban came after months of monitoring Telegram channels allegedly used by cheating and cyber fraud rackets. Channels such as "PAPER LEAKED NEET", "Re-NEET 2026", "Private Mafia", and "REE NEET MAFIAA" openly shared access to the exam paper and demanded payments ranging from a few thousand to several lakh rupees from candidates and their families. 

 The Message-Editing Feature Loophole
A key concern was a specific technical vulnerability on Telegram. The NTA flagged that the platform's message-editing feature had been used to "fabricate after-the-event 'paper leak' artefacts" — a channel administrator would edit an older, innocuous message to insert the actual question paper after the examination was conducted, and the resulting chat would then be circulated as purported "evidence" that the paper was leaked before the exam.
To address this, MeitY has directed Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in India for messages already posted, a rule that remains in force until June 30, 2026. 

A "Last Resort" Measure

The NTA described the directions as a "measure of last resort, taken only after intermediate remedies, including take-down action coordinated by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), had been pursued and had not produced the response required to protect candidates."
The NTA also firmly stated that "no such paper exists outside the secured exam chain," asserting that any promise of leaked material is, in every instance, fraudulent. 

Background: Why Is the Re-Exam Being Held?

The original NEET UG medical entrance examination held on May 3 was cancelled amid allegations of irregularities, leaving lakhs of aspirants in despair. The NEET re-exam is scheduled to take place on June 21 and affects over 23 lakh students.The NTA has urged candidates to rely only on official channels for updates regarding the re-examination.