Pirated NCERT books worth Rs 2.4 cr seized, 3 arrested
New Delhi, May 19 (PTI): 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.
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.
Watch: Delhi Police busted a ₹2.4 crore NCERT book piracy racket, arresting father-son duo Prashant and Nishant Gupta. Over 1.7 lakh counterfeit textbooks were seized from their shops in Shahdara and Hiranki. The books violated copyright laws. Investigation continues to… pic.twitter.com/daMgYiZ223
— IANS (@ians_india) May 19, 2025
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
