National Testing Agency, NTA, has issued a strong warning against the circulation of fake AI-generated OMR answer sheets, scorecards of NEET UG Result 2026. The Agency has started that such acts are criminal offences under the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, as well as other applicable laws.
As per the advisory issued, the Agency received a number of representations from candidates or from persons purporting to act on their behalf, alleging that the OMR answer sheet uploaded against their Roll Number, or emailed to them, does not belong to them, or has been “interchanged”, or shows a substantially lower number of answers than the candidate claims to have made. In many such representations, the sender has enclosed an image of an OMR answer sheet, or of a score card, said to be the “correct” document, and has sought a re-evaluation of the result on the basis of that image.
Upon receiving such representations, the Agency examined each of them and found no discrepancies in its official records. It maintained that the genuine OMR answer sheets in its possession carry the correct roll number, test booklet details, barcode, candidate information, signatures and thumb impressions, and that the declared scores are fully consistent with the official answer key.
NTA said that the documents submitted along with such complaints were fabricated. The fabrications include:
a. Digital regeneration of the printed portion of the OMR sheet by AI-based image tools, which produces distinctive typographical distortions on parts of the sheet that were pre-printed by the Agency and cannot be altered by any candidate with a pen, such as the top-of-sheet instructions, the column headers over the response grid, the serially printed question numbers, the candidate declaration paragraph and the field labels.
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b. Digital overwriting of the identity fields, that is, the candidate name, the parents’ names, the signature and the thumb impression, on an image of the candidate’s own genuine OMR sheet, while retaining the barcode, the booklet number and the shading on all 180 answer bubbles unchanged.
c. Digital alteration of the marks or the response counts shown on a downloaded score card or OMR image, while leaving in place the underlying QR code or barcode, which continues to point to the genuine record on the Agency’s server.
d. Insertion into the fabricated image of a fictitious identity, that is, a candidate name and parentage that do not correspond to any candidate registered for NEET (UG) 2026.
The agency emphasised that every genuine NEET document contains verifiable security identifiers such as barcodes, answer sheet numbers, test booklet details and QR codes, all of which are linked to secure records maintained by the NTA and the National Informatics Centre (NIC). While fabricated images may appear authentic, they cannot alter the official records stored on the agency’s servers.
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Further the Agency has warned to initiate legal action against those who are creating these forged documents, possessing it, using, have submitted or circulated it. Offenders may also face prosecution under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and the Information Technology Act, 2000. In addition to imprisonment and fines, candidates may face cancellation of candidature and debarment from future NTA examinations.
Meanwhile, NTA has clarified that genuine grievances regarding OMR answer sheets may still be submitted through the prescribed NTA helpdesk. Candidates have been advised to attach only documents officially issued or downloaded from the NTA portal, as any complaint supported by fabricated material will invite legal action.
