The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has ordered temporary access restrictions on the Telegram messaging application across India until June 22, 2026. Acting on recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA), the government has also directed the platform to disable its message-editing feature nationwide until June 30. The National Testing Agency (NTA) welcomed the strategic intervention, describing the move as a necessary step to curb examination-related fraud and misinformation ahead of the NEET-UG re-examination scheduled for June 21.
The specific suspension of Telegram’s message-editing functionality stems from investigations showing how organized cheating networks fabricate evidence. Channel administrators frequently edit archived posts and replace older attachments with actual question papers after an exam concludes while retaining the original timestamp, creating a false narrative of a pre-examination leak.
Coordinated by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), state law enforcement has launched a major crackdown on these fraud networks. The Ahmedabad City Cyber Crime Branch recently dismantled an inter-state cyber fraud gang operating multiple channels that handled transactions worth around ₹1.5 crore in a single month. Assuring candidates of strict security protocols, the NTA reiterated that no NEET question paper exists outside the secured examination process.
