Vishal Babu Mathur, a 22-year-old from Siwan district, was arrested on Wednesday morning for setting up a fake website of the Bihar State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation. Police said he has confessed to his crime.

Mathur was arrested from Chainpur Siswan in Siwan district, around 140km northwest of Patna. A student of bachelor of computer applications at DAV College, Siwan, the youngster runs computer service centres in his area.

He told mediapersons in Patnathat he had not created a fake website, but cloned the original one because he needed money.

"I had lost money in setting up the computer service centres and needed Rs 2.5 lakh," he said. "The idea to use the Bihar State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation was my own as I thought ration card services would appeal to the people."

Senior superintendent of police Manu Maharaaj said Mathur has confessed to his involvement in developing the fake website.

"We have seized the laptop used to create the fake website, mobile phone, SIM card, bank passbook, pen drive and modem used by Mathur," Maharaaj said. "Around Rs 1 lakh has also been recovered from him. Investigations have revealed that the recovered money was collected through the fake website.

"He had paid a US-based company Rs 3,000 to get the domain registered. Further interrogation is on," Maharaaj added.

Mathur's arrest came within 24 hours of The Telegraph reporting on the fake website (Fake site's ration card offer) in its May 23, 2017 edition after the Sachivalaya police in Patna registered the FIR on May 17.

Investigation was, however, delayed and the fake website was functioning till principal secretary, home, Amir Subhani and principal secretary, food and consumer protection, Pankaj Kumar took umbrage on Tuesday and directed the police to take swift action.

The case was referred to the cyber crime cell of the economic offences unit and investigations were launched.

"When we got information about the FIR, we took the details of the registration of the website and its network," additional superintendent of police (cyber crime cell) Sushil Kumar told The Telegraph. "We corresponded with the company owning the server where the fake website was hosted, and got it blocked."

Mathur's location, he said, was also traced and provided to the police officials concerned, leading to the arrest.

Cyber crime cell sources said the website was operating for the past three weeks, and Mathur's bank accounts are being checked to find out his financial transactions.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ROSHAN KUMAR