NTA debunks lies about ‘discrepancy’ in NEET marks, exposes 5 students who digitally altered their OMR sheets: Here is what happened

· OpIndia

On Monday, 20th July, the National Testing Agency (NTA) issued a detailed clarification rejecting allegations made by several NEET-UG 2026 candidates who claimed that their OMR sheets had been changed, interchanged or incorrectly evaluated. The agency said it examined the complaints and found that many of the documents being circulated on social media were “fabricated, digitally altered or AI-generated” and did not match the official records maintained by the NTA.

The clarification comes after several students alleged discrepancies in their OMR sheets and scorecards following the declaration of the re-NEET results. Some candidates claimed their answer sheets had been swapped with those of other students, while others alleged that their marks had suddenly changed or that the OMR sheets uploaded by the NTA did not match the answers they had marked in the examination.

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Addressing the controversy, the NTA issued case-specific clarifications for five candidates whose allegations had gone viral on social media platforms, especially X. These candidates are Avaneesh Srivastava, Pratibha Trivedi, Abhay Yadav, Lakshya Singh and Arya Singh.

The agency said all five cases were thoroughly verified and that the OMR sheets of all five candidates had been correctly evaluated.

“After verification, it has been found that the score of each of these candidates stands exactly as declared. The images being circulated are digitally regenerated or altered versions of the candidates’ genuine OMR sheets,” the NTA said.

Avaneesh Srivastava case: NTA says there was no OMR sheet mix-up

One of the most widely discussed cases was that of Avaneesh Srivastava, whose family alleged that the OMR sheet uploaded by the NTA belonged to another student named Ajeet Singh. The allegation was later amplified by the Congress, which questioned the credibility of the re-NEET examination and claimed there had been another major lapse after the earlier paper leak controversy.

The NTA, however, categorically denied any interchange of answer sheets.

According to the agency, a forensic examination showed that the viral image was not an official OMR sheet but a digitally altered version of Avaneesh’s own answer sheet. It said only the identity-related fields had been changed, while the barcode, booklet number, test booklet code and answer pattern remained the same as the genuine OMR sheet.

The agency also pointed out several signs of digital manipulation. These included spelling mistakes such as “Roll Ne” instead of “Roll No.”, “correctly Nilled” instead of “correctly filled”, garbled words like “partic alam”, “signaroen”, “OFFICF Copy” and “hureby desloxa”, along with incorrect field labels and abnormal question numbering.

According to the NTA, these are common indicators of AI-based document generation, where software often creates meaningless text while reproducing documents.

The agency further clarified that no NEET-UG 2026 candidate named “Ajeet Singh, son of Shri Lakhan Singh and Smt. Reena Singh” exists in its database. “A search of the complete candidate database found no such registered candidate. This is not a case of two candidates’ OMR sheets being interchanged. It is a fabricated image presented as an official record,” the NTA said.

It also noted that the viral image had nearly six times the resolution of the original institutional scan, the colour of the answer markings had changed from black to blue-purple, and the thumb impression appeared as a saturated colour block without natural ridge details.

The agency added that Avaneesh’s genuine OMR sheet, containing his correct name, parents’ names, signature and thumb impression, had been evaluated through the standard process and that his result remains unchanged.

Pratibha Trivedi’s OMR sheet was ‘significantly altered’

The NTA also rejected the allegations made by candidate Pratibha Trivedi regarding her OMR sheet.

According to the agency, the genuine OMR sheet was already available with the NTA and had also been emailed to the candidate during the official OMR Response Key challenge window.

However, the image now circulating on social media is not the same document. “The image being circulated is a digitally altered version of the genuine OMR sheet. It is not the sheet held on record with the NTA and has been significantly modified,” the agency said.

After verification, the NTA stated that Pratibha’s score of 38 marks had been digitally verified and “stands as declared.” The agency also warned that creating or circulating forged OMR sheets is an offence under the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.

Abhay Yadav’s claim contradicted official records 

The NTA also dismissed the allegations made by Abhay Yadav regarding his OMR sheet and final result.

According to the agency, Abhay had publicly claimed that he left only five questions unanswered and should have received 634 marks in the examination. However, the NTA said its official records tell a completely different story.

After verifying the original OMR sheet and the calculation sheet, the agency found that Abhay had actually left 44 out of 180 questions unanswered. “The candidate’s public claim is not supported by the official record. The OMR sheet and calculation sheet are fully consistent, and the score of 164 marks stands as declared,” the NTA said.

Like Pratibha’s case, the agency said the genuine OMR sheet had already been emailed to Abhay during the challenge window. It also warned that circulating forged documents or making claims contrary to official examination records could attract action under the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.

Lakshya Singh’s viral OMR is “digitally forged” 

The NTA also addressed allegations made by Lakshya Singh.

According to the agency, the OMR sheet being circulated online had been digitally manipulated by adding response markings that did not exist on the genuine answer sheet. “The image being circulated shows response markings that are absent on the genuine OMR sheet. Additional answer bubbles have been shaded digitally to create a forged document,” the NTA said.

The agency clarified that Lakshya’s original OMR sheet had been correctly evaluated and that his declared score remains unchanged.

Arya Singh’s allegations and NTA’s response

Another case that attracted significant attention was that of Kanpur candidate Arya Singh.

Arya had alleged that when the OMR sheet was first uploaded on 13th July, the order of questions was incorrect. After matching her answers, she claimed her expected score should have been 609 marks and submitted an objection through the official challenge process.

According to Arya, the NTA later uploaded a revised OMR sheet with the corrected question sequence, but the marks still did not match her expectations. She further claimed that when the re-NEET results were declared on the night of July 16, the portal initially displayed her score as 540 marks before it allegedly changed to 167 marks after repeated page refreshes.

She has described the issue as either a technical glitch or an evaluation error and said she had submitted complaints to both the NTA and the Ministry of Education along with screenshots.

Responding to the controversy, the NTA said the image circulating online was a digitally altered version of Arya’s genuine OMR sheet. “The recorded signature time of one invigilator has been changed from 3:45 PM on the genuine sheet to 2:45 PM on the altered image. Several other signs of digital manipulation are also visible,” the agency stated. The NTA reiterated that Arya’s original OMR sheet had been correctly evaluated and that her score “stands as declared.”

NTA explains how fake OMR sheets were created 

Along with the case-specific clarifications, the NTA also explained the methods it found being used to create fake examination documents.

According to the agency, one method involved AI-powered image generation tools that recreated the printed sections of genuine OMR sheets.

Another involved digitally replacing candidate details such as names, signatures and thumb impressions while leaving the barcode and answer bubbles unchanged so that the document appeared authentic. The agency also found scorecards in which marks or response counts had been changed digitally without altering the embedded QR code or barcode.

In some cases, fabricated OMR sheets even contained names of candidates who did not exist in the NEET-UG 2026 database.”A fabricated image may appear genuine, but it cannot change the official records securely stored on NTA and NIC servers,” the agency said.

NTA warns of legal action 

The agency has advised students, parents and guardians to submit only original documents downloaded from the official NTA portal while raising grievances.

It warned that creating, possessing, circulating or submitting forged, digitally altered or AI-generated OMR sheets, scorecards or examination documents is a cognisable offence under the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.

The NTA also said legal proceedings may be initiated not only against candidates but also against third parties involved in preparing or circulating fake documents.

At the same time, it assured students with genuine grievances that they can approach the agency through the official helpdesk by providing their application number, roll number and details of the discrepancy. The agency also clarified that no re-evaluation or revision of results will be carried out on the basis of fabricated images.

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