The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Monday rejected claims by several NEET-UG 2026 candidates that their results did not match their OMR answer sheets, stating that the images circulating on social media were “fabricated, digitally altered or generated by artificial intelligence” and did not match their official records.
In a public notice issued on July 20, the agency said it examined each representation “on an objective basis” and found that the original OMR paper in its possession matched the stated finding in each case reviewed. However, it did not reveal how many complaints it received or how many turned out to be fake.
The clarification comes days after candidates who appeared for the NEET-UG re-examination on June 21 claimed on social media that their official marks were much lower than the marks they had calculated using their OMR sheets and provisional answer key. The NTA announced the re-examination results on 16 July, which followed a turbulent exam season that was marked by the NTA canceling the original May 3 exam on 12 May and announcing the re-exam after receiving an email alleging a leak and noting an overlap between the rolling guess sheet and the question paper. The Central Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the alleged leak, has arrested 13 people and will file an indictment this month.
The original screening documents carry unique barcodes, booklet numbers, answer sheets and QR codes linked to their secure records, NTA said. She added that the announced grades matched the “official answer key and calculation sheet.” It said the OMR papers submitted by the complainants “were not the OMR answer sheet issued by the agency” but a “fabricated document”, a conclusion reached after “forensic examination and records”. The agency said: “The fabricated image may deceive the eye, but it does not, and cannot, change the record on those servers.”
In a series of five posts on X, NTA responded to individual viral cases. He stated that Avaneesh Srivastava’s rolling OMR has been digitally refreshed using “AI or OCR based tools” and confirmed that its score of 337 is stable. Likewise, she rejected Pratibha Trivedi’s claims, terming the circulating image a “heavily edited” version of her real OMR, and reiterated her score of 38.
In the case of Abhay Yadav, it said the official OMR showed 44 unanswered questions, contrary to his public claim of leaving only five, and verified his score of 164. It claimed that Lakshya Singh’s viral OMR had digitally added response bubbles and maintained its score of 116, while Arya Singh’s viral OMR was described as a “digitally modified version” of the original, with its score of 167 Also.
The agency warned that creating or circulating fake OMR papers or scorecards is a cognizable offense under the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act 2024, but said candidates with genuine grievances can continue to have them redressed through the stipulated mechanism.
