
NTA calls social-media clip 'fabricated' and says law enforcement is tracing its source after 2M+ candidates sat NEET-UG 2026 retake under biometric and CCTV watch. The earlier leak that forced the re-test still under investigation.
The agency that runs India's medical entrance exam moved Sunday to contain a misinformation campaign before the second wave of accusations could damage the re-test's credibility. The NTA called a circulating video 'fabricated' and said law enforcement was tracing its origin, a response that landed hours after more than 2 million candidates sat for the NEET-UG 2026 retake across 5,440 centers.
Abhishek Singh, the NTA's director general, framed the exercise as a whole-of-government effort that mobilised roughly 700,000 officials–police teams, observers, and exam staff–in 37 days. The earlier test had been cancelled following paper leaks that fueled street protests and a political firestorm. Singh cited Aadhaar-based biometric authentication, CCTV monitoring, and command centers at the national, state, and district levels as the security stack.
A single metric carries the weight of the operation: 20 lakh candidates (more than two million) appeared, including more than 10,000 persons with disabilities and 81 candidates with medical conditions requiring special arrangements. One candidate was undergoing chemotherapy; another had been in a road accident. Neither missed the exam, the NTA said.
The agency acknowledged isolated attempts at cheating–wrong admit cards, forged documents, someone trying to smuggle a phone. Each was caught, Singh said. That detail matters more than the broad claim of a smooth process: it suggests the controls worked where it counted.
The protest movement, led by the newly formed Cockroach Janta Party and activist Abhijeet Dipke, continues to demand the education minister's resignation. The NTA's statement on the fake video is the first formal effort to cut off the next wave of public distrust before it crests. Action against the video's originators, the agency said, was being coordinated with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and state law enforcement.
The re-test itself is done. The next marker is the probe into the original paper leak, which remains open and carries the real reputational risk for both the agency and the ministry.
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