Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office on Saturday summoned Telecom Secretary Amit Agrawal to explain how officials ordered the blocking of more than 100 websites on the basis of forged court orders, two government officials said.
Agrawal, the most senior bureaucrat in the telecommunications ministry, was called back from a trip to another state, the officials said. The ministry oversees entities ranging from large telecom operators to internet providers.
The summons follows a Reuters report on Wednesday that telecom officials directed internet providers to block 129 illegal betting websites on the strength of fake High Court orders.
The orders were emailed to officials by people posing as lawyers. One official said the Department of Telecommunications carried out the action against the betting sites through the relevant field officers.
Online betting is illegal in India. However, the case has raised concerns that weak safeguards in the content-takedown system could allow forged court documents to be used to block legitimate websites.
State police have opened a criminal investigation into possible forgery and cheating by unidentified people, and have sought ministry records as part of the probe. The telecoms ministry has also started an internal inquiry, Reuters reported on Friday.
Reuters identified two state court orders as fake, based on comments from police and the court registry. Both carried fabricated court logos and seals, and a fake QR code.
The orders, along with correspondence showing officials directing internet providers to remove the websites, had been publicly available on the Department of Telecommunications’ website for months. On Saturday, one of the fake orders remained accessible on the site, while the other had been removed.
Agrawal, his ministry and Modi’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Concerns over falsified legal documents have been growing. India’s Supreme Court last year said forgery of judges’ signatures strikes at the foundation of public trust and that such offences cannot be treated as routine.
In July, the court set aside a tribunal’s orders that relied on non-existent judgments. A US judge also recently disqualified lawyers over the use of fabricated legal citations.
