An Indian Army helicopter conducted a test landing in the Tirunelveli Armed Reserve Area in Tamil Nadu as part of preparations for ferrying NEET-UG 2026 question papers under enhanced security arrangements.
The NEET exam conducted last month was canceled following allegations of question paper leakage, following which the authorities announced that the re-test will be conducted on June 21.
To ensure that question papers were not leaked again and that the examination was conducted fairly, the authorities arranged for question papers to be delivered to examination centers at the last minute using helicopters.
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Under the proposed plan, the question papers will be flown from Delhi to Madurai by plane. From there, they will be transported to the Armed Reserve Ground in Tirunelveli in an Indian Army helicopter under the protection of Air Force officials. A mock exercise was conducted to test these security arrangements.
The sudden sight of a military helicopter flying over Tirunelveli city attracted huge attention, with residents looking on in amazement.
Earlier, the National Testing Agency (NTA) had restricted access to the Telegram platform in India for a specific and limited period ending June 22, covering the NEET (UG) 2026 re-exam day and its immediate aftermath. This limitation addresses the specific structural feature through which the platform was used to fabricate “paper leakage” evidence after the event in relation to national examinations.
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The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued these calibration guidelines following the recommendations of the NTA and the Ministry of Higher Education to check organized cheating rackets.
According to the NTA, the restriction comes at the platform level under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Along with the temporary ban, MeitY has directed Telegram to disable the message editing feature in India for already posted messages, a rule that will remain in place till June 30, 2026. The NTA said that cheating networks are actively using these platform features to cheat candidates appearing for the re-examination scheduled on June 21.
“The directive requiring Telegram to disable the message editing feature in India until June 30 addresses a separate but related issue,” NTA stated.
“The guidelines issued based on NTA recommendations are calibrated and timely,” the testing agency said.
Also read: NEET-UG re-exam: Government places restrictions on messaging app Telegram till June 22
Confirming that the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination will be conducted as scheduled on June 21, NTA urged candidates to focus on their preparation, avoid unverified information circulating online and rely only on the official NTA website and verified NTA channels for exam-related updates.
The agency also advised candidates and parents to report any fraudulent examination-related applications through the National Cybercrime Helpline or the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal.
