The Cockroach Janta Party has demanded ₹1 crore compensation for every family that lost a NEET aspirant to suicide amid the paper leak and re-examination crisis, intensifying pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi days before the medical entrance retest.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke made the demand in an open letter to Modi after claiming that 11 NEET aspirants had died by suicide within a week, five of them in the preceding 48 hours. “We demand that your administration release a compensation amount of one crore rupees to all families who have suffered from a suicide due to the compounding crisis of paper leaks,” Dipke wrote, framing the deaths as a national accountability issue rather than isolated personal tragedies.
The demand marks a sharper turn in the youth-led group’s campaign over the NEET-UG 2026 controversy, which has already triggered protests, court petitions, security measures and fresh questions over the National Testing Agency’s capacity to conduct high-stakes examinations. The May 3 examination was cancelled after authorities accepted that the paper had been compromised, affecting more than 22 lakh medical aspirants. A re-examination is scheduled for June 21 under tightened arrangements.
Dipke’s letter argues that families should not be left to bear the financial and psychological burden of what he described as a governance failure. He said the compensation should apply to all suicides linked to the crisis and urged the Prime Minister’s Office to establish a transparent verification mechanism involving district administrations, police records and mental health professionals. The CJP has also renewed its demand for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, accusing the ministry of failing to protect students from repeated examination disruption.
The government has so far focused on securing the retest and countering rumours of another leak. The NTA has warned candidates and parents against fake messages claiming access to question papers or answer keys, opened a verified WhatsApp alert channel and said all authentic updates will be issued only through official platforms. Medical colleges have been asked to support vigilance arrangements, while state authorities have been told to ensure basic facilities, early seating, drinking water and smoother crowd management at centres.
The government’s temporary blocking of Telegram until June 22 has added a digital rights dimension to the controversy. Authorities said the messaging app had been used by cheating rackets to spread fraudulent claims and target anxious candidates. The Delhi High Court questioned whether the rights of millions of users could be curtailed to control misuse by a smaller group, sharpening scrutiny of the proportionality of the response.
The Supreme Court has declined to shift the June 21 retest to an online format at this stage and has deferred broader challenges to July, leaving the pen-and-paper examination schedule intact. Petitioners have questioned the nationwide cancellation and argued for deeper reform of the testing system, while the NTA has maintained that enhanced safeguards are in place. The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested multiple accused in the paper leak case, including people linked to coaching and examination networks, as investigators examine how the question paper was accessed before the test.
The CJP, launched in May as a satirical digital movement, has rapidly turned into a protest platform for students and job seekers angry over paper leaks, recruitment delays and unemployment. Dipke has said the group is not seeking electoral power and will continue to function as a pressure movement. Its campaign has drawn large crowds in several cities, but also confrontations, including an assault on Dipke during a protest in Jaipur.
