Re-NEET aspirants fear fresh leak

Unverified Telegram groups claiming to possess leaked question papers have resurfaced ahead of the re-NEET examination on June 21. This is despite concerns raised after the alleged leak on May 4, the subsequent CBI investigation, and heightened scrutiny of the examination process. The entire episode has already exacted a great toll on the aspirants.

In Azadpur, North Delhi, Anshika died by suicide on May 14. Her family said the controversy surrounding the examination had deeply affected her.

Anshika had been keeping unwell for the week leading up to her death at a JJ cluster in Azadpur. Her parents said she had appeared for NEET in 2022 and 2023, and was hopeful of a good rank this year. All that remained in the space where Anshika studied – a single room inside a cramped alleyway – was a locked home, while neighbours spoke in hushed voices, recalling the resolve with which she had pushed through each day.

“We would barely see her outside. She was determined to crack the exam this time around. Her death has come as a frightening shock for all of us,” said Saheli, a resident at the Lal Bagh slum cluster.

Anshika’s was not the only case of student suicide reported since the paper leak on May 4: two more students – in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan – also died by suicide.

‘Leak Mafia’

Even as questions surrounding the previous leak remained unresolved, claims of another paper leak began circulating on Telegram.

A user operating under the name ‘Leak Mafia’ appeared across multiple Telegram channels and accounts. The user claimed to have access to the leaked question papers for the re-examination as well. According to information displayed on the channel, it had been active since 2024 and had more than 2,974 members. It was offering access to the question paper for a “pre-booking fee of Rs 5,000”.

‘Students, not machines’

Many such claims circulate on social media without verification and tend to resurface around the time of medical entrance examinations.

Many students in Delhi’s Rajendra Place were disheartened at the prospect of having to take the examination again. “As a student, this breaks me. We study every day with full dedication, but because of paper leaks, cancellations, and pressure, our future feels like a joke… We are not machines,” a NEET aspirant said on the condition of anonymity.

Sahil Badoni, a NEET aspirant who mostly used the libraries around Old Rajender Nagar, said he had not anticipated losing another year. “I have been studying day and night without fail just to be able to get a shot at cracking the exam. This was my second attempt, and I honestly thought that I had done much better than [I did] last year. Anyway, that has now been nullified and I am already taking my third attempt in the space of a year,” he said.

Another aspirant said, “I thought that it would be an easy victory (sic). I had prepared day in and day out, but it was the rich who got to enjoy it. They may benefit once again if there is another paper leak. I had access to a group that was selling papers as well, but neither my principles nor my bank balance allowed me or my parents to approach the sellers.”

Another aspirant said it could never be ascertained if a ‘leaked’ paper was real or fake until the test was actually conducted.

Ban on Telegram

According to the National Testing Agency (NTA), the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has ordered a temporary block on Telegram in India until June 22, following official recommendations. Further, the government instructed the platform to disable its message-editing function within the country until June 30.

The NTA explained that these measures were designed to stop organised cheating networks from using the app to spread false claims regarding exam paper leaks. Authorities raised concerns that Telegram’s editing tool was being used to manufacture fake evidence of “paper leaks” after exams had already taken place.

According to the NTA, channel administrators would take older posts and replace their existing attachments with the actual question paper once the exam was over. Because the original timestamp remained unchanged, these altered posts were circulated as “proof” that the paper had been leaked in advance.

Officials believed temporarily disabling this feature would help prevent the creation and spread of such fabricated evidence during the sensitive post-examination period.

Older versions working

Despite the temporary ban on Telegram, all messages were being sent and delivered in the older versions of the app. Even the editing feature could be used.

A senior police official revealed that multiple such groups claiming to leak papers were being monitored. These groups were removed if any form of suspicious activity was noticed. “We have put forward notices and we have also been able to ban a lot of Telegram channels that claimed to provide leaked papers. We have also sent notices to the authorities with regard to complaints that we have received concerning a few channels,” he said.

Ten people have so far been arrested in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case by the CBI. Authorities continue to investigate how the question paper was leaked and identify those linked to the scandal.

Meanwhile, the NTA has asked aspirants not to believe the claims made in these channels. “None of them is authentic, and it is just a money-grubbing scheme. They get the money and then stop responding or provide fake question papers. The process of catching them becomes an issue,” another police official said.

At the time of going to press, Telegram was not available on the Google Play Store.