Pirated NCERT book racket busted; father, son arrested

The Delhi Police have busted a huge counterfeit NCERT book racket by seizing over 1.7 lakh pirated textbooks worth over Rs 2.4 crore and arresting a father-son duo, a senior officer said here on Monday.

Acting on a tip-off, the police raided a shop on the Mandoli Road and a warehouse in Hiranki, seizing over 1.7 lakh pirated textbooks. The police arrested the accused identified as Prashant Gupta (48) and his son Nishant Gupta (26).

The racket was unearthed on May 16 after the police got a tip-off about the sale of counterfeit NCERT materials in the Shahdara area. After getting information, a team was sent to the spot.

DCP (Shahdara) Prashant Gautam said the team initiated surveillance and zeroed in on a shop, Anupam Sales, in Ram Nagar. Officers discovered a huge stock of pirated social science textbooks for Class XII, bearing forged NCERT signatures and fake price tags.

Interrogation revealed that Prashant had been running the shop for 25 years, with Nishant joining five years ago. The duo admitted to sourcing pirated books from a storage facility in Hiranki near Alipur.

“A swift follow-up raid was conducted there where the police uncovered a staggering 1.7 lakh fake books, all verified as unauthorised by NCERT officials,” the DCP said.

The police are now expanding the investigation to trace the entire supply chain — from printing units to retail sellers —. They are also examining potential systemic lapses at the NCERT that may have contributed to the demand for pirated books.