A father collapsed outside an examination centre in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, after his daughter was denied entry for arriving two minutes past the cut-off time. Similar scenes unfolded in Telangana and Bengaluru, where at least three students missed the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) re-examination on Sunday after traffic congestion, reportedly linked to a political rally, delayed their journeys. The retest, held after the original May examination was cancelled over a paper-leak scandal, drew more than two million candidates to 5,440 centres across India and 14 overseas locations.

According to police in Bihar’s Lakhisarai district, nine individuals were detained on suspicion of impersonating registered candidates during the re-exam. Officers said they were also questioning 10 to 12 others, including biometric operators and alleged middlemen. A separate report from the same district, however, cited by Hindi-language broadcasters, placed the number of arrests at 30, with seven employees of a private biometric agency also held. Authorities in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, arrested a law student accused of selling an artificial-intelligence-generated fake question paper to aspirants via social media.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) described the exercise as “error-free and flawless,” with its director general stating that a temporary nationwide ban on the messaging platform Telegram had been necessary to counter “a fake perception of a leak” and to prevent fraudsters from exploiting student anxiety. The agency also dismissed a video circulating online that claimed a fresh paper leak as fabricated. Meanwhile, the Vishva Hindu Parishad, a Hindu-nationalist organisation, alleged communal discrimination at some centres, claiming Hindu candidates were asked to remove religious threads while Muslim candidates were permitted to wear hijabs and burqas; the NTA has not publicly responded to the charge.

In New Delhi, a sit-in protest led by the Cockroach Janta Party, a group that emerged from online anger over the original leak, entered its third day at Jantar Mantar, with organisers demanding the resignation of the education minister. Protesters held a candlelight vigil for students who died by suicide in the wake of the controversy. The NTA has indicated that the provisional answer key for the re-exam is likely to be released in mid-July, after which candidates may file objections before final results are prepared. Investigations into the impersonation rackets in Bihar remain active, with police saying formal complaints from centre superintendents are awaited.