In a massive and unprecedented move to safeguard the integrity of national examinations, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), following recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA), has temporarily restricted access to Telegram across India until June 22, 2026.

This urgent step comes just days ahead of the scheduled NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination on June 21.

Authorities revealed that organized cheating syndicates and fraud channels were using the platform to extort lakhs of rupees from anxious students by selling fake question papers.

Furthermore, to prevent scammers from creating fabricated "proof" of paper leaks – where old messages are edited to insert real questions after the exam while keeping the original timestamp – Telegram has also been ordered to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30.

While the NTA has expressed regret for the temporary inconvenience caused to regular users, they emphasized that this calibrated restriction is entirely necessary to combat cyber fraud and protect honest students.