Uttar Pradesh : In a joint operation, the special task force (STF) and the Uttar Pradesh police arrested 12 persons and claimed to have busted a gang that was allegedly involved in illegally printing National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) books.
Officials said the team also seized printed books worth Rs 35 crore from two stores in Partapur area of Meerut and Gajraula in Amroha district. Six facilities, where the books were allegedly printed, were sealed on Friday evening.
Meerut Police SSP, Ajay Shahni said, “The joint team recovered Rs 35 crores worth NCERT books, and printing machines. During the initial investigation, we came to know that these books were being sold in Delhi, Uttarakhand and other places through illegal means after being printed.”
Brajesh Singh, the deputy SP of STF, said the raids were conducted after receiving a tip-off. More than a dozen employees of the press and store were rounded up for interrogation. “The mastermind, Sachin Gupta, is still at large and efforts are being made to arrest him,” he added.
Singh said that approximately 900,000 books of NCERT were confiscated from Partapur store and STF would register a case after preparing a seizure list. He said that approximately the same number of books were found in Gajraula store and the list would be made soon .
Singh said that NCERT distributes its books after printing them in its Delhi-based printing press and that it doesn’t have any press in Meerut and other locations. Sachin Gupta and his aides started printing these books in their printing press. Over the period of time, they developed a good distribution system across the country.
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