A 38-year-old man has been arrested for his alleged involvement in printing pirated NCERT books, the police said on Tuesday.
Lakhs of students seem to have fallen prey to pirated NCERT books being floated in the market. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Rajesh Deo said that these books are injurious to children’s health as the ink used on the paper is cheap and harmful. “We have sought remand of the accused and are trying to ascertain the number of books already floated in the market and whether the content of the books was same as original ones,” he said.
The police said that information was received that a publication unit involved in printing pirated NCERT books is operating in trans-Yamuna area. “These poor quality pirated books are being supplied in the market at cheaper rates causing huge revenue loss to NCERT. The offset unit has been publishing pirated books of different subjects for Classes VI to XII,” Mr. Deo said.
A team was constituted, including NCERT officials, and a raid was conducted in Mandoli on September 19, he said.
The police said that a large number of finished and semi-finished books were seized.
The owner of the manufacturing unit, Manoj Jain, was absconding at the time of the raid and was arrested on October 4. The accused is a college drop-out who set up his own printing press about seven years ago. He has been running the present set-up at Mela Ram Farms since January 2020.
“Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, he suffered heavy losses in his business. To cover up the losses and to gain maximum benefits, he started printing pirated NCERT books as these books are in large circulation across India,” Mr. Deo said.
