Delhi: 25-year-old arrested for selling pirated copies of NCERT books online

According to police, around 5,000 pirated books and NCERT printed material valued at around ₹35 lakh were recovered along with printing paper with watermark of NCERT and the latest offset printing machines during the raid in September

A 25-year-old man was arrested in Delhi for allegedly selling pirated copies of school books through online platforms.

The man was arrested based on information given by the owner of a printing press in outer Delhi’s Mandoli in September. (Picture for representation only)

Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Rajesh Deo said his team arrested the main suspect, Abhishek Sachdeva, a resident of Shahdara, on Saturday, on the basis of the information given by Manoj Jain, the owner of the printing press in outer Delhi’s Mandoli where the pirated books were published.

According to police, around 5,000 pirated books and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) printed material valued at around ₹35 lakh were recovered along with printing paper with watermark of NCERT and the latest offset printing machines during the raid in September.

“During interrogation, Jain had disclosed that he was printing pirated books of NCERT on behalf of his acquaintance Sachdeva who had supplied the paper and material to him for printing books,” the DCP said.

“The NCERT books have always been in huge demand owing to excellent content. Further, the Ministry of HRD has made efforts to make NCERT books mandatory for CBSE affiliated schools... As a result, there was a sudden rise in demand for the NCERT books. Unscrupulous elements exploited the situation by getting printed pirated books and hooked in sellers by offering them higher profit margin. This is when information was received that a publication unit involved in printing of pirated NCERT books is operating in the trans-Yamuna area. The offset unit was publishing pirated NCERT books for various subjects of classes 6-12. A team was immediately formed to crack the case,” the DCP said.