New Delhi, 23 June (H.S.): Multinational technology company Google on Tuesday morning restored the messaging application Telegram to its Play Store after the Centre's temporary restriction expired at midnight on June 22.

Even before its reinstatement on the Google Play Store, the messaging app had already resumed functioning for some existing users. However, as of 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Telegram was still unavailable for download on Apple's App Store. Apple did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the matter.

Notably, the Central Government had directed Google and Apple to remove Telegram from their respective platforms until June 22 to prevent the leakage of question papers for the re-examination of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG).

The examination, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), is held for admission to medical institutions across the country. The original NEET-UG examination, conducted on May 3, was cancelled following allegations of a question paper leak. A re-examination was subsequently held on June 21, and no reports of malpractice or irregularities have emerged so far.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar