India Opens Forgery Probe After 129 Betting Site Blocks

A Reuters investigation published on November 11 found that neither order appeared in the courts’ registration records. The documents bore official-looking seals and had reached the telecoms department through emails from people identifying themselves as lawyers.

Two Emails Led to 129 Website Blocks

The department acted on two separate requests:

• July 21. Internet providers were directed to block 34 betting websites. A purported Rajasthan High Court order had arrived by email on July 19;
• September 2. Another directive covered 95 websites. It followed an August 22 email containing an alleged Allahabad High Court order dated August 14.

The second directive accounted for 73.6% of all 129 websites, based on the two blocking lists. It was issued 11 calendar days after the email reached officials. The Rajasthan directive took two days.

Both requests passed through the department before the documents were found to be false. Reuters reported that officials had exchanged correspondence about the second request, including a demand for an action-taken report.

A Court Order With a False QR Code

The Allahabad document carried a court seal, logo and QR code. Scanning it led to a webpage displaying the case number Writ – A 30480/2026. Court records showed no matching case.

The judge named in the document had never issued the order. Ghanshyam Yadav, a senior state cybercrime official, told Reuters:

"It is fake. It is not a genuine order from High Court of Allahabad."

According to Bar & Bench’s account of the police complaint, Reuters contacted the court on October 30. The Chief Justice directed that a criminal complaint be filed on November 3. Police registered the case on November 6, citing suspected forgery and cheating.

Investigators have yet to identify the people responsible. Reuters could not establish whether AI was used to produce the documents.

In an April 1 parliamentary reply, the government reported action against 8,376 gambling-related URLs, as 15M covered in April.

Checking the Court Record

A case number on a blocking notice can be checked against the court’s records. This can establish whether the order is genuine, but says nothing about the betting site’s legal status.

The police investigation continues. Whether the DoT will review the two blocking directives remains an open question.