In what is being perceived as a major goof-up at the highest level in the Ministry of Telecommunications, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Saturday summoned Telecommunications Secretary Amit Agrawal seeking an urgent explanation for a verification lapse in which officials ordered the blocking of 129 betting websites based on fabricated High Court directives.
The top bureaucrat had to cut short an official trip to another state to appear before senior PMO officials after revelations emerged that individuals impersonating lawyers emailed fraudulent judicial documents to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
The PMO’s intervention comes amid questions over how Government officials accepted purported court orders without establishing their authenticity.
The episode has raised questions about the checks in place for India’s website-blocking mechanism. Although online betting is illegal in the country, the use of forged judicial documents to secure website restrictions has highlighted the possibility that fraudulent orders are being used to target legitimate platforms.
Individuals posing as lawyers emailed two forged orders purportedly from the Rajasthan and Allahabad High Courts in July and September 2026. The documents contained fake seals, signatures, and QR codes, yet passed DoT verification checks without confirmation against official court records. The summons came after a report on Wednesday revealed that telecom officials had directed internet providers to block 129 illegal betting websites using fabricated High Court orders. The documents had been emailed to officials by individuals posing as lawyers.
Two Government officials with knowledge of the matter said the summons signals intensifying internal scrutiny after the fake court orders came to light. One official said the action taken by the DoT against betting accounts was carried out through relevant field officers. Agrawal is the senior-most bureaucrat in the telecommunications ministry, which oversees major telecom operators and internet service providers.
The DoT reportedly issued two blocking directions on July 21 and September 2, attaching copies of the alleged court orders. However, subsequent checks against the official records of both courts reportedly revealed that neither of the purported orders had been registered.
The incident has also prompted the telecom ministry to initiate an internal investigation to establish how the forged documents entered the official process and whether the prescribed verification procedures were followed.
The development marks increased scrutiny of the episode, which has raised questions about the safeguards in India’s website-blocking system. While online betting is illegal in the country, the use of forged court documents to initiate takedown orders has raised concerns that legitimate websites could also be targeted.
Meanwhile, police have sought records from the ministry as part of a separate criminal investigation into the alleged fraud.
The forged order purportedly issued by the Rajasthan High Court was emailed to the DoT at 8.59 pm on July 19, directing authorities to take action within 24 hours. It carried the signature of an individual identified as ‘Aryan Chaudhary’, who was described as an ‘Advocate-on-Record’. The Rajasthan High Court has confirmed that the order was fake and that no such document existed on its servers. The court is also considering legal action in connection with the matter.
Acting based on this forged order, the DoT issued instructions to internet companies on July 21 to block 34 betting websites.
The Allahabad High Court also found that an order purportedly issued in its name to affect another round of website takedowns was fake. The court subsequently filed a police complaint on November 6, Reuters reported. An investigation has been initiated against unknown persons on charges of forgery and cheating.
The purported Allahabad High Court order was dated August 14 and was cited to seek action against 95 gambling-related websites. When Reuters sought clarification from the court administration about the order, officials found that it was fake.
After the matter was brought to the attention of the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, the Registrar General and the court’s computer section were tasked with verifying the document’s authenticity.
The investigation is expected to examine the communication received by officials, the authenticity of the documents and the process through which the blocking directions were issued.