With elections around the corner, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government seems to be making sure that the lid is tightly shut on the alleged ₹78 crore scam which involves 235 illegitimate news websites.

Five IAS officers have been accused of conducting the scam from 2012 to 2015 in their capacity as officers of the state’s Directorate of Public Relations (DPR) by allegedly distributing funds worth ₹78 crore from the state treasury to about 235 fake and illegitimate websites, for the publicity of government policies.

The government “gives advertisements” to news websites—meaning, the news websites publish advertisements on government policies and receive money in return, depending on the website’s size and scale. However, many of these websites have been discovered to be non-operative and illegitimate. The beneficiaries instead are self-proclaimed journalists who operate these fake websites. These “journalists” also generate fake traffic on their websites to make them seem genuine, so they can continue to acquire government funds.

It’s not difficult to deduce why the Chouhan government has, therefore, done its best to muffle the alleged scam. It also doesn’t help that among the IAS officers against whom complaints have been made, one serves as the principal secretary to Chouhan himself.

Two years have passed since the news about this first hit the roof. Yet there are no FIRs in the case and the original complainants are fed up of going to the court and the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the MP police without any success. Complaints against the journalists involved in this “fake boosting” were also allegedly kept under the curtain so as to not affect the elections. In fact, instead of investigating, the police in its report to the district court said the court has no power to adjudicate the matter in the first place.

The complaint in this matter was first submitted to the EOW of the MP police in Bhopal in January 2016 by a local resident, Vinay David. The complaint mentioned five IAS officers: SK Mishra, principal secretary to the chief minister and former commissioner of DPR; Mangla Mishra, additional director of DPR; Lajpat Ahuja, former director of DPR; Anupam Rajan, former commissioner of DPR; and Anil Mathur, former director of DPR. The complaint asked that the officers be booked under Sections 420 (cheating) and 467 (forgery of valuable security).

Part of Vinay David’s complaint to the EOW.

However, when the EOW did not take cognisance of David’s complaint, he filed a complaint in the court of the chief judicial magistrate of the Bhopal district court on September 2016. Over the next two years, the court asked the EOW to investigate the complaint on a number of occasions, but not a single report on the investigation was submitted by the sleuths of the EOW.

According to a document available with Newslaundry, the police did submit replies in the court. One letter, dated July 16, 2018, stated that the court of the chief judicial magistrate was not competent enough to ask the police to investigate the corruption complaint filed against IAS officers who have worked in the DPR, and only a special court can take cognisance of the matter. Written by Deputy Superintendent of Police Rajesh Guru, the letter asked the court to cancel its order of March 5, 2018, which directed the police to investigate and submit its report in court.

The letter written by Deputy Superintendent of Police Rajesh Guru.

Previously, a letter dated February 28, 2017, was submitted in court by then Superintendent of Police of the EOW, Shashikant Shukla, saying that after the complaint was received from David, the complaint was forwarded to the EOW headquarters. The February 2017 letter explained that after the complaint was forwarded, two letters—dated March 15, 2016, and September 28, 2016—were written to the principal secretary of DPR to provide factual reports regarding the matter, which the police told the court on October 10, 2016.

The letter written by then Superintendent of Police of the EOW, Shashikant Shukla, in February 2017.

Shukla’s letter further said (loosely translated): “However, the office of the EOW was not aware of the further proceedings of the court on November 17, 2016, December 8, 2016, January 2, 2017, and February 9, 2017, as the police has not been made party into the matter by the applicant, because of which we were also not able to keep our side in the court. However, the police is always ready to follow the orders of the court.”

David’s lawyer, Yawar Khan, told Newslaundry the matter has been circling round and round for two years. “The court rejected the police’s application which asked to cancel the complaint filed by David … In the past, the police has taken two months’ time at regular intervals to submit the report but it never did [submit it]. Recently, on October 3, 2018, the court against asked the police to submit a final investigation report so that an FIR can be filed in the case. But police is not doing anything as elections have come, and any action in this regard can bring damage to the government.”

Khan said the distribution of money to fake sites for government publicity happened during the tenure of the IAS officials named—and still continues. “Many of these websites don’t even exist but advertisements in the range of ₹50,000 to ₹1.5 lakh were still provided to them every month. In 2016, the DPR came out with a new rule: that the advertisements will be given only to websites which have a certain number of hits, so fake websites can be curtailed. However, some fraudulent journalists used software to boosts hits on their website and managed to acquire publicity advertisements of government.”

A partial list of the websites from Vinay David’s complaint.

Newslaundry spoke to Vinay David, the complainant in the case. David doesn’t think the case will come to court for a long time. “The police made an argument that the district court is not competent enough to take cognisance of the case. The special court will not admit the case as it requires permission from the concerned department of the officers.” He added, “I don’t think this will ever end, these guys have a huge network.”

When Newslaundry contacted SK Mishra, principal secretary to the chief minister, he said, “These all are rubbish talks, and as elections have come, people make such kind of allegations.”

Newslaundry tried to contact Mangla Mishra, Anupam Rajan and Anil Mathur but they were unavailable for comment.

Newslaundry spoke to V Madhu Kumar, additional director general of the EOW. He said, “I am not aware of the matter. I have to verify it with my officers.”

The fake websites and their ‘hits’

In March 2016, the DPR came out with a new set of rules for giving advertisements to news websites so that it would become easier to rule out fake websites. The new rules said that websites seeking the advertisements should be operational online for a period of at least one year with the same URL and name. A website should have at least 2,000 users per month as per their Google Analytics reports.

The advertisements would be given to websites in four categories on the basis of the number of monthly users:

– Websites with over 25,000 monthly users would get ads worth ₹50,000 per month

– Websites with 10,000-25,000 monthly users would get ads worth ₹40,000 per month

– Websites with 5,000-10,000 monthly users would get ads worth ₹10,000-25,000

– Websites with 2,000-5,000 monthly users would get ads worth ₹5,000-15,000

The new guidelines said news websites that were previously receiving advertisements would have to hit at least 2,000 monthly users within the next three months to be eligible for the advertisements. Websites which qualified for all the criteria would receive advertisements worth ₹25,000 with the permission of the DPR commissioner, and advertisements worth more than that would be provided with the permission of the state government. It also said the DPR had the right to verify the numbers of monthly users using credible web analysis tools.

However, the new guidelines were not properly monitored. Some websites manipulated their number of users by generating fake traffic. A high-ranking IPS officer, on condition of anonymity, told Newslaundry that fake boosting to increase traffic on news websites was done by people to get government advertisements. An investigation related to this was completed within two months, but an FIR has not been registered yet.

A source privy to the investigation said 200 websites were guilty of generating fake traffic for this purpose. But since Madhya Pradesh is election-bound, there are “orders” not to file the FIR.

Newslaundry asked the case’s investigating officer about this. Lokpal Bhadauria, police inspector of the Cyber Crime Cell, Madhya Pradesh, initially said, “We are not allowed to file an FIR now as elections are happening in the state.” On further questioning, he changed his statement and said, “I completed the investigation six to seven months back and no one has stopped us from filing the FIR. Don’t worry, I will arrest them soon.”

Bhadauria said these websites operators increased fake traffic with the help of software available in the market which is used especially for increasing hits. This enabled them to get advertisements worth ₹50,000. Some operated multiple websites and earned up to ₹5 lakh a month.

When questioned further, Bhadauria said, “Why you are so interested in this case? No big bureaucrat is involved in this. Please stop bothering me. I don’t know why everyone is interested in this case.”

Newslaundry spoke to Aruna Mohan Rao, special director general of police, Madhya Pradesh State Cyber Crime Cell. Rao said, “The inquiry is in the last stages. Seeking legal advice also. Will take suitable action subsequently.” This completely contradicts Bhadauria, who said the inquiry had been completed six months ago.

Vinod Mishra, a resident of Bhopal, is party to Vinay David’s complaint about the alleged scam. Mishra said some efforts are clearly in progress from the government’s side. “There is a possibility that some high-ranking IAS officers will be booked, but presently, the government has asked that no one talk to anyone, or reveal any information. Some government officials told us that revealing information about the case could affect the investigation. They said it can also become an election issue as the model code of conduct is in place. There are many other things associated with this matter which can create tension at this time.”

Mishra says he interviewed someone who is “an expert at making websites”, and had been told that websites that have been non-operational for over a year can be brought up-to-date within three hours. These websites will show all the news updates from the year and a fake record of the number of visitors per day. “Likes, comments, visitors, subscriptions—everything can be manipulated,” he says. “The DPR knows everything about this but they still have not taken appropriate action.”

Mishra says DPR blacklisted 60 websites after David submitted the complaint, but “many such websites are still operating and everybody is aware of it”.

Vyapam whistleblower Anand Rai said SK Mishra, Chauhan’s principal secretary, is the “main player” behind the scam. “He is one who distributed money to these news websites. Besides that, he also distributed money to the media under the table. The media of Madhya Pradesh is under his control which is why important issues are not addressed in print, electronic or online media. Journalists over here are on the payroll of the chief minister’s house.”

Rai said SK Mishra’s appointment itself is questionable. “He was hired on a contractual basis after his retirement. Have you ever heard of an IAS officer hired on a contractual basis?”