NEET UG 2026 Reexam June 21: A decision created a stir, why will this app stop till June 22? Who was running the paper leak game worth crores behind the scenes? Why did the government take a big decision as the new game of NEET paper leak came to light?
New Delhi: National Testing Agency (NTA) has banned the Telegram platform in India for a certain time. This restriction will remain in force till June 22, 2026, which also includes the day of re-examination of NEET (UG) 2026. This decision has been taken because this platform has been used to create false evidence of paper leak of national examinations.
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Why did the government take a big decision before NEET?
- The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued these strict instructions following the recommendations of NTA and Higher Education Department. Its purpose is to curb organized gangs involved in copying.
- According to NTA, this platform-level restriction has been imposed under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Along with this temporary ban, MeitY has also directed Telegram to disable the feature of editing already posted messages in India. This rule will remain in force till June 30, 2026. NTA said that cheating networks were using these platform features extensively to cheat the candidates in the re-examination to be held on June 21, 2026.
This app is the biggest weapon for paper leaks?
- “The direction to Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in India by June 30, 2026 addresses a separate but related concern,” NTA said.
- The testing agency said, “These instructions issued on the recommendations of NTA are fully thought out and for a fixed time frame.”
- NTA further said, “Both these steps have been taken in the interest of public order. The purpose of this is to stop cheating gangs who use this platform in an organized manner to cheat the candidates in the re-examination of NEET (UG) 2026 to be held on June 21, 2026.”
- Prior to this platform-wide action, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, acting as the nodal agency, had shut down several fake channels, groups and bots.
What is NEET” and “Private Mafia”
- Law enforcement agencies from Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan provided consistent inputs, based on which channels running with names like “PAPER LEAKED NEET” and “Private Mafia” were targeted. These channels were demanding thousands to lakhs of rupees from the families.
- Recently, the Ahmedabad City Cyber Crime Branch arrested an inter-state gang running eight such channels and detected transactions worth Rs 1.5 crore.
- The testing agency made it clear that when removing channels one by one did not yield the desired results, a temporary ban on the platform had to be imposed as a last resort.