Telegram has approached the Delhi High Court to challenge the temporary ban on the platform in India ahead of the NEET UG re-examination scheduled for June 21. The Centre had imposed temporary restrictions on the app in India till June 22, citing concerns over fraud and misinformation targeting candidates.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) welcomed the move, alleging that fraudsters were demanding money from candidates by falsely claiming access to "leaked re-exam papers." The NTA exposed a large-scale scam network operating on Telegram, with fraudsters demanding between ₹14,000 to ₹25,000, and in some cases up to ₹10 lakh.
The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) had directed a temporary restriction on access to Telegram in India until June 22, covering the examination period and its immediate aftermath. The ministry further directed the platform to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov had criticised the temporary restrictions on the platform, saying it would inconvenience more than 150 million users of the app. NTA DG Abhishek Singh defended the Centre's decision, saying students would not be able to access channels being operated through VPNs outside the country.
