India temporarily blocked access to the Telegram messaging app ahead of this week's nationwide rerun of its medical entrance exam, out of fears that it could be used for cheating.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts India's largest entrance examinations, said on Tuesday that local authorities had ordered Telegram to restrict access to the app across India until June 22, one day after the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Undergraduate courses (NEET-UG) is reheld. 

The government also directed Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30. Authorities said scammers previously exploited the feature by posting fake exam questions before the test and later replacing them with the real questions, making it look like they had leaked the exam in advance.

More than 2 million candidates are scheduled to retake the exam on June 21 after the original test, held in May, was scrapped following allegations that question papers had been leaked, triggering nationwide protests and calls for the resignation of India's education minister.

The NTA said Indian cyber authorities had removed a "substantial number" of Telegram channels, groups and bots advertising fraudulent access to leaked exam papers, offering to sell them for up to several thousand dollars to candidates and their families, even though no exam paper had actually been leaked.

Earlier this month, police in Ahmedabad arrested members of a cyber fraud ring accused of operating eight Telegram channels using the same scheme. Investigators said the group moved approximately 15 million rupees (about $159,000) through fraudulent bank accounts and contacted around 1,000 mobile numbers in a single month, while similar investigations are underway elsewhere in India.

The NTA acknowledged that the temporary restrictions would cause inconvenience to millions of legitimate Telegram users but argued that the measures were necessary to protect the integrity of the examination.

Digital rights advocates criticized the move, arguing that blocking the platform was unlikely to address the root causes of exam fraud.

The Internet Freedom Foundation, an Indian digital rights organization, called the restriction a "reactive and ineffective" response that would punish ordinary users while failing to address vulnerabilities within the examination system itself. 

The group said many students rely on Telegram study groups and educational resources in the final days before the exam and argued that any genuine paper leak would originate from insiders involved in the printing and logistics process rather than from the messaging platform.

"If the exam is secure and no leak exists, what is being suppressed is rumor, and rumor cannot justify closing a platform when targeted blocking and criminal prosecution remain available," the organization said.

Telegram had not publicly commented on the restrictions at the time of publication.

The NEET-UG examination serves as the primary gateway to medical education in India and has repeatedly faced controversy over allegations of leaks and irregularities. Similar accusations emerged during the 2024 examination, when unusually high scores prompted investigations.