A British actor’s book on reproductive rights, an American fiction writer’s book on politics, another book that discusses the link between suicide and procreation, and yet another on ‘Nazi liberalism’, have all found their way into Tamil Nadu's public libraries.
Except, none of these books are real. They are only a few among the hundreds of fake titles that were found in public libraries across the state. One of the books even credited economist Jean Dreze as the author, but he clarified he never wrote it.
A closer examination of the library catalogues and a cross-check of the ISBN (International Standard Book Numbers) listed against these publications revealed several discrepancies. Some of the ISBNs belong to entirely different books and authors, while others do not exist at all. Many of the books are ridden with factual errors and historical inaccuracies that prompted writers and scholars to question if they were the hallucinations of artificial intelligence (AI).
The books were largely linked to two previously unheard of publishers, Phoenix 2023 and Agal Vilakku Pathippagam. TNM could not trace these publishers to any location.
The controversy has brought the previous Tamil Nadu government under scrutiny over allegations of irregularities in the procurement of books for public libraries in the state. What began with a renowned author raising allegations of dubious titles in a newly opened library in Coimbatore soon expanded to several districts in the state, with questions being raised even about purchases made in 2022 and earlier.
The ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) placed the blame squarely on the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which was in power till May 2026, for placing orders with dubious publishers. School Education Minister A Rajmohan accused the previous DMK government of irregularities in the procurement process. DMK has denied the allegations.
Following a Madras High Court order on November 11, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) began probe in the case. The state government has ordered an audit in all public libraries, resulting in 70,674 books having been removed from various libraries across the state so far.
The alarm raised in Coimbatore
The controversy first came to light after writer Perumal Murugan raised concerns about books stocked at Coimbatore's Periyar Arivulagam, a public library inaugurated in February 2026.
In an article published on November 6 on his online platform Sindhai, titled '(Periyar) Arivulagathil Periya Oozhal', Murugan alleged that several books contained factual errors, questionable historical claims, and incorrect information. He also questioned the credentials of the publishers and authors, and raised the possibility that some books could have been AI generated.
The errors he flagged included a collection of verses called Naladiyar being falsely described as the name of a Tamil poet; Madurai Koozhathip Peruvazhuthi credited as the author of the Sangam-era work Madurai Kanchi, which is traditionally attributed to Mangudi Maruthanar; and stories attributed to Subramania Bharati that he may not have written.
Murugan said he had identified nearly 1,800 such allegedly dubious books bearing the imprint of Agal Vilakku Pathippagam and more than 100 books from Phoenix 2023 at Periyar Arivulagam.
These discrepancies are not limited to the books identified by researchers in Coimbatore.
On November 8, two Tamil research scholars, Sathishkumar S and Premkumar R, alleged that hundreds of English-language books published by Phoenix 2023 had been purchased for the Kalaignar Centenary Library in Madurai in March and April ù2022.
They said a cross-check of ISBN records had revealed discrepancies in the titles and authors of some books. For instance, a book titled Economics During Pandemic, attributed to Waldo Albert reportedly returned the title Differential Calculus and the author Joseph Edwards when its ISBN was checked. The publisher's name in the ISBN portal was listed as Thenmozhi B.
The researchers also questioned the pricing of several publications, including a 204-page book titled The Chapter: Public Domain, priced at Rs 2,895. They said they intended to examine whether the books contained AI-generated content by analysing chapters from 20 publications.
‘The Ghosts Speak’
An audit of the online catalogues of the Anna Centenary Library in Chennai and the Kalaignar Centenary Library in Madurai, compiled by Srikanth, a software engineer and public interest technologist, identified several more instances of questionable publications, fictitious authors, and ISBNs that appear to have been assigned to unrelated books.
He said he began looking into the issue after British economist Jean Dreze said that a book was wrongly attributed to him.
On November 8, Drèze denied authoring a book titled Democracy and Peoples Right in the Contemporary World, which was reportedly found in some public libraries in Tamil Nadu. In an email clarification to The Hindu, Drèze said he had never written such a book and that any publication carrying his name under that title must be fake.
Srikanth found that the book attributed to Dreze appeared to have been based on an existing publication by another author. The original book had a foreword by Dreze, and the material appeared to have been repackaged under his name.
This prompted Srikanth to examine other entries in the library catalogues.
He compiled the findings in an online database titled 'The Ghosts Speak', which examines catalogue entries, ISBNs, acquisition dates, and access numbers. He said he obtained a database dump containing approximately 35,000 catalogue records from the Kalaignar Centenary Library in Madurai.
Srikanth told TNM that some of the books appeared to have been assembled by combining material from different sources and attributing them to authors whose identities could not be established. "You take some papers from here, some articles from there, put together, say, 10 chapters, and then call it a book," he said.
Some of the purported authors' names, Srikanth observed, appeared to have been created by combining the first name of one person with the surname of another, often resulting in foreign-sounding names.
One of the books at the Anna Centenary Library, flagged by Srikanth’s audit, is A Single Woman, is attributed to an author named Naomi Jane. The book, published by Phoenix in 2023, carries the ISBN 9789392360213, and two copies are listed in the catalogue, with the price recorded as Rs 0.
The audit found that the book's description reproduces the blurb of The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass, by American author Mandy Hale. The description even retains Hale's name, although the library catalogue attributes the book to Naomi Jane. The audit said it could not find evidence of an author by that name.
Another author identified in the Anna Centenary Library catalogue is Wiley Kefeng, under whose name two books are listed: Language Politics and Language Contact: Proceedings of the ICHL and Reality-Testing of Existence and Character. The audit questioned the authenticity of the author's identity and pointed out that Wiley is also the name of an international publishing house. It flagged the possibility that the name was assembled using unrelated identities. The description of one of the books also reportedly contained a paragraph about black holes despite having no connection to the subject, raising questions about whether material from unrelated sources has been compiled into the publication.
At the Kalaignar Centenary Library in Madurai, the audit identified a book titled Python Programming For Beginners, attributed to Henrick Björn and published by Phoenix in 2022. The catalogue carries the ISBN 9789394612617 and lists three copies under accession number 19/23-24.
The audit could not trace the author to any genuine publication. It also pointed to an unusual detail in the catalogue, where the name appears in the reverse order as Björn Henrick in the author field.
Another entry is Homeomorphisms of the Mandelbrot Set, attributed to an author named Grothendieck DeWitt. The name is a combination of the surnames of two real mathematicians, Alexander Grothendieck and Bryce DeWitt, neither of whom is known to have authored such a book.
Interestingly, the same title appears in the Anna Centenary Library catalogue under the names Goluzin and Hukuhara, also surnames of real mathematicians. The audit said the title itself could not be traced to a genuine mathematics publication.
The Madurai catalogue also contains a series of books attributed to purported authors Filip Sandberg, Rasmus Lennart, and Ansgar Rosmund. The audit flagged a pattern in which first and last names appear to have been rearranged across different records, creating combinations of names that sound Scandinavian. It said the authors could not be traced to genuine publications.
‘Hijacked’ ISBNs
Srikanth also found that some of the ISBNs attached to these publications were not entirely fabricated, but belonged to genuine books published by other publishers. He described this as "hijacking" an ISBN. This meant that while an ISBN search returned a genuine publication, its title, author, and publisher did not match the book listed in the library catalogue.
"These are actually legitimate ISBNs, but they belong to somebody else's books. You are hijacking somebody else's ISBN, creating your fake book, and giving it to the library," he said.
According to him, some of the ISBNs led to publications associated with a different publisher, including one called Thenmozhi Publications. He said the pattern of ‘hijacked’ ISBNs appeared to predate the widespread use of generative AI, pointing to records from 2023 and 2024.
Readers can independently examine the books listed in the Anna Centenary Library's online catalogue by searching for individual titles, authors, or publishers. Its Advanced Search facility allows users to narrow down results using criteria such as publication date, language, content type, and format. The catalogue also allows searches to be sorted by acquisition date, making it possible to examine books procured by the library during a particular period. The ISBNs listed against individual titles can then be cross-checked against bibliographic databases to identify discrepancies.
A fraud facilitated by AI hallucinations?
A Politics of The Public Domain, one of the books found in the Anna Centenary Library catalogues, is attributed to an author named Sam Cohen. Its library catalogue entry carries the ISBN 978-93-92360-26-8. However, a search using this ISBN returned a different title, Psychology Practicals, published by Vivek Malviya, with Dr Rasheeda Khatoon listed as the author. The ISBN search record gives January 12, 2022 as the publication date.
Sam Cohen is also the name of an American fiction writer whose debut short-story collection, Sarahland, was published by Grand Central Publishing. Whether the Phoenix publication borrowed this writer’s name, or is referring to another person of the same name is not yet clear.
Another book, Mothers and Reproductive, Rights, is attributed to Jacqueline Bisset, a British actor known for films such as Bullitt (1968), Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and The Deep (1977).
The description of Mothers and Reproductive Rights says it refers to questions of law and equality and discusses the relationship between representative government, popular culture, and American courts. However, an independent publication record establishing her authorship of this title could not be located.
Other titles listed under Phoenix 2023 include Liberal Values of Nazis, attributed to Walther Maasdorff, and Suicide and Procreation, attributed to Michael Lance. Independent bibliographic records establishing the identities of these authors or their association with the respective titles could not be located.
Layers of scrutiny bypassed
On November 9, a group of writers, publishers, researchers, and academics issued a joint statement condemning the alleged procurement of fake books at Periyar Arivulagam and demanding immediate action.
The statement said preliminary findings indicated that between 1,800 and 2,000 books procured from Agal Vilakku and Phoenix 2023 were allegedly fake. It alleged that the publishers had compiled information available online on different subjects and published it under the names of fictitious authors, with several books containing factual errors. It also alleged that the prices charged for these publications were several times higher than those of comparable books.
The signatories pointed out that Tamil Nadu has 4,755 public libraries under the Directorate of Public Libraries. They noted that the state had introduced the Transparent Book Procurement Policy in 2024 to prevent irregularities in the purchase of books and e-books.
Under a government order issued on November 5, 2025, a 137-member expert committee comprising writers, critics, academics, and readers was constituted to recommend fiction and general books. A 13-member selection committee was tasked with finalising the procurement list based on these recommendations. A five-member committee would negotiate prices with publishers, while another five-member higher-level committee would scrutinise and approve the recommendations.
Despite these layers of scrutiny, the signatories questioned how the allegedly fake publications had entered public library collections.
They demanded an inquiry commission under the supervision of the Madras High Court, the publication of details of those who recommended and selected the books, and authorised payments, and legal action against the publishers. They also called for the removal and seizure of all fake books from public libraries, an audit of libraries across Tamil Nadu, and changes to the book procurement policy to prevent similar incidents.
The statement was signed by former Madras High Court judge D Hariparandhaman, researcher SV Rajadurai, researcher R Balakrishnan, academic Jawahar Nesan, and researcher V Arasu, among others.
Government blames DMK, orders enquiry
Minister Rajmohan said the purchase order for the disputed books was issued on February 14, 2026, and payment was released from the government treasury on March 14, when the DMK was in power. He argued that the fact that the books were being arranged on libruary shelves after the election did not mean they had been purchased by the present government.
On November 10, the Minister said the government would cancel all existing book procurement orders, including those for the yet-to-be-inaugurated Kamarajar Grand Library in Tiruchirappalli. He also said a new transparent procurement policy would be framed in consultation with scholars and the Booksellers and Publishers’ Association of south India. The government said books suspected to be fake or AI-generated would be identified and sealed while the inquiry was underway.
The DVAC subsequently began a detailed enquiry into the alleged irregularities and inspected procurement records at the Anna Centenary Library in Chennai and Periyar Arivulagam in Coimbatore. According to reports, around 3,000 suspected books at Periyar Arivulagam were boxed and sealed, while 523 books were identified at the Connemara Public Library in Chennai. Officials also examined financial transactions, bank accounts, and procurement documents.
The removal of questionable publications has also begun in other districts. On November 12, TNIE reported that the District Library Authority in Madurai had ordered the removal of 1,529 books published by Phoenix and Agal Vilakku from 133 branch libraries. Of these, 998 were published by Phoenix and 531 by Agal Vilakku.
Around 350 Phoenix 2023 books purchased during 2022-23 have also been identified and kept aside at the Kalaignar Centenary Library in Madurai over allegations of fake ISBNs. Officials estimated their value at approximately Rs 2 lakh. In Dindigul, officials said 1,007 Phoenix books and 1,200 Agal Vilakku books had been identified and removed. In Sivaganga district, 840 Agal Vilakku books and 357 Phoenix books were removed from 52 branch libraries.
Meanwhile, the DMK's legal wing joint secretary I Paranthamen moved the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the DVAC to register an FIR based on a complaint alleging misappropriation of Rs 50 crore in the procurement of books for Periyar Arivulagam. The petition alleged that the ISBNs were obtained in bulk rather than title-wise and cited examples of large numbers of books attributed to individual authors within short periods. It also argued that a departmental inquiry could not substitute a criminal investigation.
Court steps in
The issue has since reached the Madras High Court. The Madurai Bench, comprising Justices GR Swaminathan and MD Sumathi, passed directions on November 10 in a contempt petition alleging non-compliance with its June 19, 2024 order on transparency in public library book procurement.
The 2024 order had addressed irregularities in the procurement of books for public libraries and directed the state to follow the Transparent Book Procurement Policy. The contempt petition alleged that the subsequent procurement of questionable publications amounted to wilful disobedience of those directions.
The court directed the DVAC to register an FIR in connection with the alleged fraudulent procurement of fake, plagiarised, and AI-generated books. It also ordered the immediate freezing of bank accounts linked to Agal Vilakku Publications and its proprietor, Mohan, and directed the government to take disciplinary action, including suspension, against officials found involved. Librarians were asked to take an inventory of suspect books and make them unavailable to readers.
The bench observed that readers entering public libraries were entitled to presume that the books stocked there were authentic. Referring to Rule 18(4) of the Tamil Nadu Public Libraries Rules, 1950, which bars books of doubtful taste, the court said that books containing dubious content and false narratives would fall within this category. It also held that AI-generated and plagiarised works would come within its ambit.
The court observed that stocking bogus books containing false information and books attributed to phantom authors violated the Tamil Nadu Public Libraries Act and infringed the reader's right to receive information under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. It also expressed concern that public money had been spent on the publications and said the alleged scale of the irregularities warranted criminal investigation.
At the hearing on November 11, the bench expressed dissatisfaction with the government's failure to identify the officials responsible for the procurement. It gave the DVAC four days to register an FIR and directed the Director of Public Libraries to submit the names of all entities involved and the relevant records by November 16. An FIR has since been registered.
The state informed the court that four key witnesses, including Perumal Murugan and professor Parvin Sultana, had been examined and that documents were being collected. The court also heard from Kizhakku Pathipagam founder Badrinarayanan Seshadri, who suggested that questionable titles could have been inserted into an approved list at the digital stage of procurement.
The judges suggested that the government publish a consolidated list of books procured by public libraries over the last two decades, including publication details, amounts paid, and dates on which bills were settled, saying this would help establish transparency.
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