• Download National Testing Agency’s (NTA) statement here. 

The NTA has announced that the messaging app Telegram has been temporarily restricted in India under a direction issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). According to the NTA, MeitY acted under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, following the agency’s recommendations.

The order restricts access to Telegram in India until June 22, 2026, covering the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination, which is scheduled to be held the day before, as well as its “immediate aftermath”. In addition, MeitY has directed Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30, 2026.

Why was message editing disabled: According to the NTA, authorities targeted the feature because channel administrators can edit previously posted messages while retaining the original timestamp. Crucially, administrators can also replace attached files, including PDFs, after publication. 

The NTA said bad actors have exploited this capability in recent examinations by inserting the actual question paper into an older, unrelated message after an exam concluded. They then circulated screenshots of the edited post as purported proof that the paper had leaked beforehand. Consequently, the government said the restriction closes a route that has allegedly enabled the creation of misleading “paper leak” evidence.

Why was NEET-UG 2026 initially cancelled? The NTA cancelled the original NEET-UG 2026 examination, conducted on May 3, after investigations concluded that material resembling questions from the actual paper had circulated before the test. The issue first came to light on May 2, when a Rajasthan-based hostel owner filed a complaint alleging that students had received a suspicious “question bank” before the examination that contained questions appearing in the actual test.

Further complaints led to a wider probe involving central agencies and the Rajasthan Police. The NTA referred the matter to the CBI and, with government approval, cancelled the examination. The decision marked the first full cancellation of a NEET-UG examination since the NTA took over conducting the test in 2019.

Also read:

• Everything to know about CBSE’s 2026 evaluation crisis: a timeline
• After CBSE marking system, a researcher exposes the NTA re-examination portal’s vulnerabilities
• CBSE hacked: Cybersecurity researcher demonstrates access after official denials