In a major operation, Delhi Police have uncovered a large-scale counterfeit textbook racket involving pirated NCERT books worth ₹2.4 crore. A father-son duo was arrested on Monday after police raided their shop and found over 170,000 fake NCERT books.
The raid took place on Mandoli Road, following a tip-off received on May 16 about the sale of fake textbooks at a shop called Anupam Sales. Police, along with NCERT officials, discovered stacks of pirated Class 12 Social Science books, which were sold with fake signatures and misleading authentication marks to trick buyers.
Prashant Gupta (48) and his son Nishant Gupta (26) were arrested at the scene. They had been running the shop for many years, with Nishant joining the family business five years ago. During interrogation, it was revealed that the duo had been sourcing these counterfeit books from a warehouse in Hiranki, north Delhi, and selling them as legitimate educational material.
Following this, a second raid was conducted in the Hiranki area at a rented property, where an additional 160,000 fake books were seized. The warehouse was traced to Arvind Kumar, a man from Sonipat, Haryana.
These counterfeit books were carefully designed to look like official NCERT editions, with the same layout, price tags, and barcode design, aimed at deceiving students, parents, and schools.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara), Prashant Priya Gautam, stated that this illegal operation not only violated copyright laws but also affected the quality of education. Investigations are continuing to trace the entire supply chain of these pirated books, with police looking into printing presses and distributors involved in the racket.
