Alleged CLAT 2026 question paper leak surfaces on Telegram; aspirants demand investigation
The images shared on the page carry date and time stamps of around 10:15 p.m. on December 6—approximately 15 hours before the examination. While Telegram’s features allow users to “re-crop, re-decorate, or replace photos and videos in any chat,” which could allow the question paper images to be affixed on the previously published posts later, edited media display an “edited” label. No such label was visible on these images.
CLAT 2026, a national-level entrance examination for admissions to under graduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) law programmes offered by 25 National Law Universities (NLUs), was held on December 7 in offline mode from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at 156 test centres in 25 States and four Union Territories across India.
The examination was conducted by the Consortium of National Law Universities (CNLUs), which was established in 2017. According to the CNLUs, a total of 92,344 candidates applied for CLAT 2026 for just over 3,500 UG seats and around 1,500 PG seats in 25 National Universities. Of these, 75,009 candidates registered for the UG programme and 17,335 for the PG programme examinations. The attendance rate stood at 96.83% for UG candidates and 92.45% for PG candidates.
The CLAT 2026 results were declared on December 16 and made available on the Consortium’s official website. However, screen recordings and screenshots of the alleged leak have been circulating online since December 7 across multiple social media platforms.
Telegram group
One of the screen recordings accessed by The Hindu, from a CLAT aspirant, shows that the Telegram page had around 275 members and that images of question papers were shared in the group. However, the Telegram page named “Clat Exam 2026”, visible in the video, is no longer accessible. The user ID @PaperResult, with the username “Leaker”, which appears on the leaked papers, is still visible on Telegram and is “promising leaks for future examinations in exchange for payment.”
In the screen recordings, the administrator of the page claims: “Uploading the CLAT exam paper to this group one day before the exam as proof that we provide genuine papers.” Further, a message states that “pen marks were deliberately made on the questions to avoid any doubt that the paper had been leaked”.
In an approximately 50-second video recording of the group messages, there are a set of images claiming to be snippets from the CLAT UG question paper. The video shows zoomed-in views of some exam paper pages, including Section V (pages 36, 35, and 34), Section I (page 5), and Section II (pages 16, 17, and 18), besides several other images. The questions shown in the images in the zoomed-in video, shared around 15 hours before the examination, match the question paper (published on the CNLUs website) that was administered on December 7 in offline mode.
Following these images, another message posted on the morning of the exam day, at 9:00 a.m., reads: ‘paid walon ko personal me paper + key de diya hai’ (the paper and answer key have been given privately to those who paid).
A message posted at around 10:30 p.m. on December 7, after the completion of the examination schedule, read in Hindi and was translated into English as follows: “You have seen the proof of the paper. Now leave the group. If you want to obtain papers in the future, contact me—I will arrange it. It is better that you leave on your own. I will not even open your messages. I am watching each member to see who leaves. If I remove you, you will be added to the block list, so I am telling you to leave voluntarily.”
CNLUs yet to respond
So far, there has been no acknowledgement from the CNLUs regarding the alleged leaked video. The Hindu reached out to one of the 25 members of the Consortium’s Governing Body, who declined to comment on the issue, advising to reach out to the President of the Consortium. We also contacted Prof. S. Shanthakumar, Director of Gujarat National Law University (GNLU), Gandhinagar, who is the serving President of the CNLUs, seeking his response via phone, WhatsApp, and email. But, he is yet to respond.
Aspirants demand investigation
An aspirant, speaking on the condition of anonymity and claiming to be a former member of the “Clat Exam 2026” group, said he had watched a video on a law-related YouTube channel titled “Did CLAT paper leak?” on December 3. While the video cautioned viewers against engaging in such activities, the aspirant said it prompted him to search for related content on Telegram to verify the claim. He subsequently found the group and sent a join request on the evening of December 5 (this date of request, however, could not be independently verified).
He added that he was admitted to the group on December 7, though the exact time of admission is not mentioned based on the screenshot shared by the aspirant. However, the screenshot shared by him shows that his request to join the group was approved on December 7.
“I joined the group on December 7, after the examination, and was surprised to see that the question papers shared there matched the exam I had written. Later, the group was deleted,” he added. “I initially thought it might be some manipulation, as on Telegram an image can be shared and later replaced or edited. However, what surprised me was that none of the images carried an ‘edited’ tag. According to Telegram’s features, users can “re-crop, re-decorate, or replace photos and videos in any chat. You can also add or change captions—and, just like edited messages, edited media will display an ‘edited’ label.”
He added that the identities of the page administrator and group members were not visible, and that only the total number of members in the group was displayed. As per Telegram’s features, enabling the “Remain Anonymous” option makes an administrator invisible; such administrators do not appear in the member list, and their messages are sent using the group’s name and photo instead of their own. Telegram also allows group owners to hide the member list by navigating to the Group Info page, selecting Edit, then Members, and choosing Hide Members. There is also an option to prevents from screenshot of the phone’s screen.
He added that he took the screenshots using another phone, and further the members were also not allowed to post messages in the group chat. He said he later messaged the individual privately, asking, “CLAT 2027 ka kaam kab start karoge, bhaiya?” (When will you start CLAT 2027 as well, brother?). To this, the person replied, “Bhai, abhi is exam ka result to aa jaane do” (Brother, let the results of this exam come out first), the aspirant added.
Meanwhile, he added that the user ID @PaperResult, which appeared on the leaked papers in the “Clat Exam 2026” group, has since created another Telegram page claiming to share examination papers in advance for other examinations as well. He said he joined the new group only to observe its activities, where the administrator is asking members to pay between ₹10,000 and ₹20,000 for an examination paper leak.
(This is written by Bhaskar Basava, an independent journalist based in Hyderabad, covering politics, human rights, and environmental issues, primarily from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He is now expanding his work to include education across all States.)
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