NEW DELHI — India's Department of Telecommunications ordered internet service providers to block 129 illegal betting websites this year based on two fabricated High Court orders, setting off a multi-agency cyber fraud investigation.
The administrative directives bypassed standard judicial verification. Both rulings—purportedly handed down by the Rajasthan High Court and the Allahabad High Court—never existed on official court dockets.
The discovery exposed a glaring vulnerability in the regulatory machinery governing online censorship. Federal telecom officials issued two nationwide blocking circulars on July 21 and September 2, instructing network operators to pull the plug on dozens of domain addresses. Attached to the government directives were formal court orders ordering the immediate takedown of gambling platforms. But when registry databases were searched, court records showed no trace of either proceeding.
Officials in Jodhpur acted first to disown the paperwork.
The Rajasthan High Court's registrar confirmed that the document bearing the bench's name "appears to be fraudulent" and confirmed that no such file was ever registered or uploaded to the court's official servers.
The deception in Uttar Pradesh went a step further, deploying sophisticated visual camouflage to mimic judicial authority.
The forged Allahabad High Court document, dated August 14, came complete with the court’s official insignia, an embossed seal, and a digital QR code intended to project legitimacy. The ruling was drafted under the name of Justice Garima Prashad. Yet when registry administrators conducted an internal audit, Justice Prashad’s office confirmed that the bench had never heard the matter nor delivered any such ruling.
The document was entirely bogus.
Alarmed by the unauthorized use of the court’s identity, the Allahabad High Court administration lodged a formal criminal complaint on November 6, prompting state authorities to initiate criminal proceedings.
State investigators are now hunting the operatives behind the judicial impersonation.
Police documents confirm that an FIR stands registered against unidentified individuals on charges of forgery and cheating. Cybercrime detectives are analyzing the metadata of the digital documents sent to the Department of Telecommunications to establish whether the forgers employed artificial intelligence tools or insider templates to draft the filings.
It is fake. It is not a genuine order from High Court of Allahabad.
Ghanshyam Yadav, Senior Cybercrime Official, Uttar Pradesh Police
Ghanshyam Yadav confirmed that while the investigation is moving forward across technical communication channels, police have made no arrests so far.
| Case Parameter | Official Case Status |
|---|---|
| Targeted Platforms | 129 Illegal Betting & Gambling Websites |
| Issuing Authority | Department of Telecommunications (DoT) |
| Purported Benches | Rajasthan High Court & Allahabad High Court |
| DoT Directive Dates | July 21 and September 2 |
| Fabricated Allahabad Order Date | August 14 (under Justice Garima Prashad) |
| Formal Police Complaint Filed | November 6 by Allahabad High Court |
Investigators are now tracking IP addresses, email transmission routes, and correspondence logs between the intermediary complainants and federal telecom desks to identify who authored the forged paperwork.
| Investigative Body | Uttar Pradesh Police Cybercrime Unit |
| Arrests Made to Date | Zero |