Man held in Delhi for trading in pirated NCERT books

A 25-year-old man was arrested in Delhi for his alleged involvement in getting pirated copies of NCERT books and later selling them through online platforms, police said on Tuesday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rajesh Deo said his team arrested Abhishek Sachdeva, who is the mastermind of pirated NCERT books racket, on Saturday.

The arrest of Sachdeva, a resident of Shahdara here, was made on the basis of the disclosure of printing press owner Manoj Jain who was arrested following a raid at his printing unit in outer Delhi's Mandoli area in September.

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

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

Sachdeva's father was into the business of selling NCERT books and after his death due to cancer, he decided to order for printed pirated books to earn quick money to make up for the financial constraints, police said.

Sachdeva disclosed that the printing material used in these books was procured by his late father and that he used to sell these books online to customers, DCP Deo said.