India blocks Telegram until 22 June after NEET medical exam paper leak and cheating racket fears

India imposed a temporary block on Telegram on Tuesday, the government confirmed, after authorities found that the messaging platform was used by cheating rackets to defraud candidates preparing for the re‑examination of the National Eligibility‑cum‑Entrance Test (NEET). The restriction is timed to cover the retest on 21 June, with the block set to end the following day.

Exam leak triggers cancellation

On 3 May, nearly 2.3 million students sat the NEET‑UG exam for undergraduate medical college entry. Within days, the National Testing Agency (NTA) annulled the results after investigators concluded that large portions of the question paper had leaked beforehand and circulated on Telegram channels with names like “Paper Leaked NEET” and “Re‑NEET 2026”. The annulment sparked protests across the country, some led by the satirical Cockroach Janta Party movement demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The Central Bureau of Investigation has made more than a dozen arrests, and one chemistry teacher involved in exam supervision has been detained.

Government blocks Telegram until after the retest

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ordered the block under a provision of the IT law that allows restrictions in the interest of “sovereignty and integrity of India”. Apple and Google were directed to remove the app from their Indian stores, and major telecom providers were asked to comply. Authorities also said Telegram must disable the edit‑after‑send feature for Indian users until 30 June, after finding that fraudsters had rewritten older posts after exams to fabricate evidence of leaks.

The measure was taken in response to the organised use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates appearing for the NEET 2026 re‑examination scheduled on 21 June 2026.

Durov and rights groups object

Telegram founder Pavel Durov criticised the action on X, arguing that the block does not address the root problem and that potential leaks would simply move to other apps. The Internet Freedom Foundation called the ban a “band‑aid solution” and “disproportionate”, saying it punishes ordinary users while ignoring systemic causes of exam fraud.

The temporary ban punishes over 150 million normal Telegram users in India, not those responsible for the problem.

The block of Telegram is reactive and ineffective and will punish ordinary users instead of addressing the systemic source of exam leaks.

Preparing for 21 June

With the retest approaching, the NTA set up a web portal to report suspicious claims, unauthorised content, or fraudulent activities linked to NEET. Exam papers are reportedly being flown to test centres using army helicopters as an additional security precaution. The government described the Telegram block as a “last resort”, saying earlier content‑removal requests to the platform had failed to produce results. The NTA has maintained that no actual leaked papers exist, but the pressure of India’s intensely competitive medical college entrance process, fed by a network of expensive private coaching centres, has created a lucrative market for fraud rings.