Following a week’s ban on Telegram, NTA Director General Abhishek Singh claimed that multiple layers of security has been added to avoid any malpractice in National Eligibility Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET [UG]) scheduled for 21 June. This statement came a day after the government imposed a temporary ban on Telegram on 16 June. This ban will remain effective till 22 June.

Suggesting that security has been tightened to avoid any irregularities in the conduct of the crucial medical entrance exam this time, Abhishek Singh said, “NTA is committed 100% to ensure that no malpractice will happen. Every question paper has been made in a complete secure manner. We have added layers of security to what is normally done,” ANI reported.

Declaring that multiple agencies have been roped to ensure that the NEET UG exam is conducted in a free and fair manner, he added, “We have taken every single precaution to ensure that nobody who is involved in setting up the question papers or translating them or printing them or moving them or storing them till the date of the examination is compromised in any manner. We have taken help from multiple agencies, Ministry of Home, the paramilitary, Department of Post, Ministry of Defence., Ministry of External Affairs, the state governments, state police, state administration, chief secretaries, everybody is helping NTA.”

On Tuesday, National Testing Agency (NTA) Director General said that the messaging platform was being extensively misused by scammers to scam students and circulate fake question papers ahead of the re-NEET exam. Explaining the rationale behind the restrictions on Telegram, General Abhishek noted that the platform was allegedly used to fabricate evidence of question paper leaks through edited messages carrying old timestamps

Over the scam network operating on Telegram, NTA Director General Abhishek Singh in a video message said that the messaging app was running two scam rackets to target students. Suggesting access to the re-exam paper, some channels are demanding ₹14,000 to ₹25,000, even up to 10 lakh, the agency said as it dismissed such claims as untrue. Another scam relates to fake “proof” videos showing chats from before the exam. Criticising the app for its edit feature, NTA added, “Whoever runs a channel can edit any old message AND change what’s inside it, while the date on the message stays the same. So a message edited on the 4th can be made to look exactly like it was sent on the 1st.”

Notably, the NTA is conducting NEET retest after the national level screening test held on 3 May was cancelled over paper leak allegations. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov protested against the recent ban on Telegram and alleged that this move of India’s IT ministry “punishes 150M+ ordinary Telegram users in India” instead of targeting the insiders who leaked the exam materials. According to him, this ban hasn’t stopped anything and said that the leaks just moved to other apps.

NTA issues statement on Telegram ban

NTA issued a statement on 16 June, exposing the large-scale “Telegram-based fraud and misinformation targeting NEET (UG) 2026 candidates.” According to the press release, Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), took down substantial number of Telegram channels, groups and bots whose names and content openly advertised their fraudulent and misleading purpose.

Moreover, NTA raised concern over Telegram’s “message-editing feature in India” and revealed that the authorities directed the platform to disable it until June 30. It argued that scammers use this feature to fabricate evidence of exam paper leaks after tests have been conducted.