New Delhi: A “coordinated conspiracy” of “national scale” to undermine trust in the national food regulator, possibility of “foreign funding” to generate such content, and creating mistrust among the public against the “national authority on food safety”. A bunch of social media accounts criticising the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) are facing the wrath of the apex body, which has levelled serious allegations against them in an FIR lodged 26 March.
Among them is a YouTuber who flagged the widespread sale of fake paneer and milk while targeting the FSSAI’s role as watchdog.These social media accounts, according to the FSSAI, have accessed and circulated official documents of the organisation illegally and without authorisation on their platforms.
The Delhi Police’s move to seek information about the individuals behind these X accounts, including phone numbers and email IDs, IP log details, has led to a public outcry over what many are calling a bid to “shoot the messenger”.
The FIR was registered at the IP Estate police station on a complaint by Dr Sanjay Kumar, an FSSAI official, after some handles on X began posting content questioning the functioning of the food regulator. The police flagged the following profiles—@khurpenchh, @gemsofbabus_, @IamTheStory_, @NalinisKitchen, and @YTKDIndia—to X, ThePrint has learnt.
One of the X handles under the lens—@khurpenchh—had come out with a post in which it questioned the appointment of FSSAI director identified as ‘Sweety Behera’. The handle has gained a sizable following through its watchdog activities on civil servants and aspirants.
Another handle@NalinisKitchen, which is run by YouTuber Nalini Unagar, had criticised the FSSAI Director, alleging that the authority remained silent on the sale of fake milk, paneer, oil, and other harmful products in the market, which people continue to consume and fall ill from. She also raised concerns over poor hygiene standards. Below is the screenshot of the above mentioned post that has since been deleted.
The FIR, meanwhile, also alleged that a network of actors engaged in a “sustained campaign” to circulate misleading content against the body also leaked internal confidential documents on platforms such as X and LinkedIn, some of which were forged. The FIR said it was done with the involvement of “insiders” in a bid to defame the FSSAI.
“Over 100 posts were shared on X in an organised manner that were against FSSAI, stating that the Indian food operators are not able to provide safe food to Indians,” an official aware of the case details told ThePrint.
“During investigation, we found confidential FSSAI documents were accessed, and shared, and selectively highlighted parts: that claimed that there is no enforcement by the FSSAI, and the organisations are feeding poison, were shared. The document was not related to food regulations. It was an opinion of an employee, during an induction, that was highlighted.”
This, according to the official, needs a thorough probe.
Sources in the Delhi Police said that the social media posts included some criticising FSSAI and some internal documents like minutes of meetings and internal committee reports regarding appointment of an officer, who had provided wrong information about her experience.
“The matter will be probed on merit. We will look into the documents that were allegedly leaked and their nature, if they are sensitive,” a police officer said.
The FSSAI also analysed the social media handles and alleged that the coordinated and concerted manner in which the posts were shared points to a “larger conspiracy” noting that several of the handles are suspected to be operating from outside India, the FIR said.
Commenting on this, the above-mentioned official said, “It appears this campaign may have been designed to benefit certain foreign business entities, by eroding consumer confidence. From many influencers who shared this, we found that a few of them don’t live in India, and are not using their real IDs.”
Also Read: FSSAI has failed to resolve diet-related issues in India—public health crisis on the rise
‘A conspiracy’
According to the FIR, the alleged conspiracy to defame the FSSAI was aimed at providing undue benefit to a class of business entities that either do not have FSSAI certification, failed to obtain it, or had their licences cancelled.
It stated that the “criminal defamation” by certain influencers was intended to confer “undue benefit to out-of-India establishments” by “defaming the national agency, FSSAI, mandated for food safety.”
The FIR further noted that food and other consumable products are of growing national and international interest, driven by rising purchasing power and the expanding size of India’s economy, leading to intense competition among establishments.
It added that, at both national and international levels, various tactics have historically been adopted to gain a competitive edge, and alleged that defaming the FSSAI is part of such efforts.
The FIR claimed that certain individuals procured internal documents, possibly with the help of officials within FSSAI, and shared them on social media to “erode public trust in the functioning and authority of government institutions responsible for food safety.”
The FIR alleged that the documents in question were either stolen or accessed by the conspirators with the help of FSSAI officials, who thereby committed criminal breach of trust as government servants.
“The documents which are reflected on social media handles were entrusted to the staff handling the same specifically.”
It further alleged that these documents were taken out by the FSSAI staff in collaboration and coordination with the conspirators.
“The same documents or extract of the same in original or in forged condition have been posted by the social media influencers on different platforms to make their claim more authentic,” the FIR said.
‘Focus on verifying allegations, rather than questioning source of info’
Reacting to the FIR, a spokesperson for @khurpenchh told ThePrint, “When allegations are made that an official is corrupt, departments or organisations often demand proof. However, when such proof is presented, it is frequently dismissed on the grounds that the documents were not obtained through a ‘proper channel’.”
The spokesperson added that it raises an important question: what exactly constitutes a proper channel. “If the Right to Information (RTI) mechanism is considered the proper channel, then it is important to acknowledge its practical limitations. RTI responses are often delayed, sometimes incomplete, and at times provide information that is not meaningful or actionable. Despite these challenges, we have used RTI to obtain certain information. Additionally, some information has been gathered through confidential sources, whose identities cannot be disclosed for safety and ethical reasons.”
Team Khurpench further asked, “What kind of ‘classified’ or ‘extremely confidential’ documents are being referred to, for which authorities, such as FSSAI and Delhi Police, are actively trying to trace the messenger?”
They should focus on verifying the allegations against the accused and taking appropriate action, rather than questioning the channel through which the information surfaced, it remarked.
According to the response, Team Khurpench had collected all relevant documents, and cross-verified the findings with official notifications, conducting a detailed analysis.
“On 26 December 2024, FSSAI constituted an internal committee to investigate the selection of six senior officials. According to the findings in FSSAI’s own report, only one of these six officials had submitted accurate and valid documentation. The remaining five were found to have provided misleading or false information,” the spokesperson told ThePrint.
“This included fabricated experience letters, incorrect CTC details, and in some cases, candidates who did not even meet the prescribed selection criteria. After thoroughly reviewing this report, we repeatedly raised concerns and warned FSSAI about these irregularities. However, no concrete action was taken by the authority. In addition to this, we also possess other documents, gathered through online research, which point toward further irregularities and possible misconduct within FSSAI.”
Team Khurpench further said that they were not afraid with respect to their identity. “We will follow all legal procedures to ensure that our identity remains protected. Our primary focus is to ensure that the allegations we have raised are properly examined and addressed. If, at any point, we are proven to be wrong, we will not hesitate to apologise to the entire nation. We believe in accountability both for the system and for ourselves.”
This is an updated version of the report.
It’s possible some of them are outside of India but a lot of them are just critical of bureaucracy which makes me question whether this is being done to silence the dissident against the bureaucracy.
I don’t mind if you want to do an investigation but bureaucrats or “babus” deserve to get criticized because they are responsible for majority of the problems in this country.
Do a probe without arresting anyone.