In an unprecedented move to safeguard the integrity of national competitive testing, the Government of India has temporarily blocked access to the popular messaging platform Telegram across the country. The restriction, effective until June 22, 2026, is aimed at curbing rampant fraud, misinformation, and fake question paper leaks ahead of the high-stakes National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) re-examination scheduled for June 21.
Invoking Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) executed the time-bound order following urgent recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
In addition to the total app block, the government has ordered Telegram to disable its message-editing feature for already-posted content within India until June 30, 2026. The NTA revealed that organized cheating rackets were actively misusing this structural feature to orchestrate “timestamp fraud.” Scammers would upload an innocuous document prior to the exam, only to edit the post and replace it with the genuine question paper after the test concluded. Because Telegram retains the original pre-exam timestamp, it created the dangerous optical illusion of an advance “paper leak,” triggering widespread public panic and extortion.
For weeks, multiple fraudulent channels operating under titles like “PAPER LEAKED NEET” and “Private Mafia” had been targeting anxious aspirants, demanding sums ranging from a few thousand to several lakh rupees. The NTA has categorically refuted these claims, asserting that all official exam materials remain entirely secure within their structural chain, and any profile promising early access is a criminal scam.
While the NTA expressed regret for the inconvenience caused to over 150 million legitimate Telegram users in India, officials emphasized that the block was a necessary “measure of last resort.” Backed by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), law enforcement has already dismantled several networks, including an inter-state gang busted by the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch. Normal app operations are slated to resume once the temporary restrictions expire
