The key entrance exam for admission to medical universities, known as the National Qualification Entrance Test (NEET), was scheduled to take place in May. However, authorities canceled it after it was discovered that NEET questions had been published on Telegram, according to kommersant.ru.
The government has scheduled a retest for June 21. “Measures regarding Telegram have been taken in response to the organized use of the platform by criminal groups to deceive candidates taking the NEET 2026 retest,” the Ministry of Education clarified.
The restrictions are being imposed in accordance with the Information Technology Act, which grants the government the right to block access to websites in the “interests of India’s sovereignty and integrity.” Authorities stated that they “regret the inconvenience caused” by the app’s blocking, which will affect hundreds of thousands of people. However, they insist that this was a last resort because other attempts to remove content from the platform had failed.
Telegram has not yet commented on the block. According to Reuters, as of the morning of June 16, the messaging app was still operational in India.
