Pirated NCERT books worth Rs 2.4 cr seized, 3 arrested

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has busted a major piracy racket by seizing over 1.7 lakh pirated NCERT textbooks worth more than Rs 2.4 crore and arresting three persons, including a father-son duo, an official said on Monday. The accused have been identified as Prashant Gupta (48) and his son Nishant Gupta (26), and Arvind Kumar.

"Prashant and Nishant had a shop where police found a large stock of pirated educational books being sold under the guise of genuine NCERT material. The racket was unearthed following a tip-off received by the police on May 16 regarding the sale of pirated NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) books from a shop on Mandoli Road," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Prashant Gautam said in a statement.

He further said the raid was conducted and officials from NCERT were also roped in to authenticate the materials. During the raid at Anupam Sales, police found a large stock of pirated educational books being sold under the guise of genuine NCERT material. The shop was being operated by the father-son duo who were taken into custody, read the statement. "Twenty-seven pirated Social Science textbooks for Class 12 were recovered from the shop. The books bore forged NCERT emblems and counterfeit signatures, making them appear authentic. On-site verification by NCERT confirmed the material was counterfeit and violated the Copyright Act," said the DCP.

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Counterfeit books sourced from warehouse

During interrogation, the accused revealed that the counterfeit books were sourced from a warehouse in Hiranki near Alipur in Delhi. Acting on this information, police raided the disclosed site and recovered approximately 1.7 lakh pirated books, valued at over Rs 2.4 crore. The premises, owned by Arvind Kumar, had been rented and used for stocking the pirated books. An NCERT team at the site confirmed that the entire consignment violated copyright norms, the officer said.

During interrogation, Gupta admitted to having operated their shop for over two decades, with Nishant joining the business five years ago. Lured by easy profits, the duo began purchasing pirated books from suppliers. "Based on the confession, a follow-up raid was conducted at a storage unit. An FIR under Section 318 (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and relevant provisions of the Copyright Act was registered at MS Park Police Station. All accused are arrested and legal proceedings are underway," said the DCP.

Police are now expanding the scope of the investigation to trace the entire supply chain involved in the manufacture, distribution and sale of counterfeit NCERT books. This includes identifying illegal printing presses, transport intermediaries and possible collusion by wholesale distributors or local vendors.