India blocked 129 betting websites on fake court orders, Reuters finds
Two high court orders that India's telecoms department relied on this year were forgeries, and police in Uttar Pradesh have opened an investigation.
India's Department of Telecommunications told internet providers to block 129 illegal betting websites this year on the strength of two high court orders that turned out to be fake. The findings come from a Reuters investigation published by The Straits Times. NDTV also reported that the department issued its blocking directives on July 21 and September 2, acting on the purported court orders sent to it.
The documents claimed to come from the High Courts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Reuters found that neither appeared in the courts' online registration records. Rajasthan High Court's registrar told the agency by email that the order bearing its name "appears to be fraudulent" and did not exist on its server.
The Allahabad High Court in Uttar Pradesh found that its order was also fake. It filed a police complaint on November 6 after questions from Reuters, police case documents show, and an investigation against unknown persons has begun for alleged forgery and cheating. "It is fake," Ghanshyam Yadav, a senior state cybercrime official, told Reuters. He said no one had been arrested.
The Rajasthan document reached the department by email at 8.59pm on Sunday, July 19, signed by an "Aryan Chaudhary", described as an advocate-on-record. It ordered action within 24 hours and cited a provision of Indian IT law that allows takedowns in the interest of national security. Two days later the department told providers to remove 34 betting sites. A Reuters email to Chaudhary's address bounced back.
The Allahabad document was dated August 14 and signed under the name "Justice Garima Prashad". It carried the court's logo, its seal and a QR code, but the code led to a random webpage showing only a case number. A man calling himself advocate Kartikey Pandey cited the same number when he sent the order to officials on August 22. He did not reply to Reuters.
Officials exchanged several messages about that order, including a request for an "action taken report". On September 2 providers were told to block 95 betting sites. Police documents say Prashad's office confirmed "no such order has been passed by Her Ladyship."
Reuters could not establish who created the orders, which bore blue court seals with India's national emblem, or whether artificial intelligence was used. The telecoms department did not respond to the agency's questions. Gambling is illegal under Indian law.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has faced criticism for ordering takedowns of posts and websites, though it says it does so only in the public interest. Last week Elon Musk's X told an Indian court that police directives it had passed on to two free speech groups, warning that their accounts could be removed, were fake.
Both blocking directives were still on the ministry's website as of Wednesday, Reuters reported.
Sources: The Straits Times, India ordered website takedowns on fake court orders, Reuters finds; police launch probe; NDTV, Fake Court Orders, Seals: How Fraudsters Got 129 Websites Blocked.
