look news india
Just before the NEET re-examination (Re-NEET) which is going to be held in the country on June 21, 2026, the government has directed to impose a temporary ban on social media and micro messaging platform Telegram. To prevent rumors of paper leak and suspicious activities, the government has decided to restrict the functioning of Telegram in India till June 30, 2026. After this big decision, a new debate has erupted on the internet.
IIT Kanpur Director Manindra Aggarwal justified this decision of the government by posting on the social media platform X. But after his post, two very promising and tech-savvy students—Sarthak Siddhant and Nisarg Adhikari, who came into limelight due to the revelations related to the CBSE OSM portal—directly challenged the claims of the IIT director.
‘The message gets edited without leaving any trace’ – claims the director of IIT Kanpur
IIT Kanpur Director Manindra Aggarwal put forward a technical argument defending the government’s action and NTA’s statements. He wrote that Telegram’s message-editing feature gives fraudsters the freedom to cleverly fabricate fake evidence. According to him, fraudsters edit their old posts after the exam is over and present it as if the question paper was leaked before the exam.
Agarwal argued, “The real problem with Telegram channels is not just sharing of leaked papers, but they can be used to spread fake news of paper leaks that appear to be genuine. Telegram allows any user to change the content (fake leak) without leaving any trace.”
Whistleblower Sarthak and Nisarg exposed, showed proof of ‘meow meow’ message
This claim of Manindra Aggarwal was rejected outright by many technology professionals, developers and entrepreneurs. Teen whistleblowers Sarthak Siddhant and Nisarg Adhikari, who recently came into limelight during the CBSE portal controversy, did live fact-checking of the IIT director’s claims.
The Sarthak theory took a unique approach to explain the working of Telegram. He shared a screenshot of a Telegram message with “meow meow” written on it. Right next to this message, an ‘Edited’ marker and its exact timestamp (time of change) were clearly visible. Presenting this as evidence, Sarthak asked the director, “When the timestamp is clearly visible with every edited message on Telegram, how is it right to say that no trace is left?” When Aggarwal asked if a PDF file can be edited without changing the date, Sarthak shared another screenshot to show that the ‘Edited’ label remains there even if the file is changed.
‘It is impossible to block Telegram completely’.. Nisarg enumerated the flaws
Jumping ahead into this debate, tech developer Nisarg Adhikari called the ban imposed on Telegram technically ineffective and absurd. Interestingly, some time ago, Nisarg himself was offered a big role by IIT Kanpur. Nisarg wrote sarcastically:
“Can’t stop paper leaks > end up blocking Telegram”
Nisarg explained that Telegram is coded in such a way that it is impossible to block it completely. Due to its open-source codebase, people can easily access it using options like proxy and VPN. He further said that Telegram’s edit timestamp function is publicly visible and anyone can easily verify it.
Serious questions raised on the ban: Will WhatsApp and press also be closed?
Sarthak Siddhant directly questioned the intention behind this ban and asked, “Just because there is misinformation or rumors in a communication medium, we have decided to shut it down outright? Director of IIT Kanpur, sir, doesn’t misinformation spread on WhatsApp? Doesn’t misinformation come in the Indian press (media)? Then what is the point behind shutting down the entire Telegram?”
The students clearly said that there is no single source of rumors or misinformation and the government cannot shut down every digital medium like this. This heated technical debate between two young students and the director of a prestigious institute of the country is currently going viral on social media.