A day after pirated NCERT books worth Rs 60 crore were recovered from a godown in Meerut, the Special Task Force seized pirated NCERT books. The books are worth Rs 10 lakh.
Police had arrested four persons and booked local BJP leader Sanjeev Gupta and his nephew Sachin as the main accused.
“After the raid in Meerut, we found evidence of another such printing press in Amroha. A raid was carried out in Gajraula area and the duplicate books were seized. Prima facie, it appears that the same accused were managing this press as well but it remains part of the investigation. There is a possibility that more such fake operations were being carried out in west UP and similar raids will be made as per the gathered evidence,” said SP (STF) Kuldeep.
”There is no authorised printing press for publishing NCERT books in Meerut, but this illegal business of publishing and sale of books on this scale was continuing for over five years,” said Senior Superintendent of Police (Meerut) Ajay Sahni.
“I will come out with valid documents authorised by the NCERT to publish these books. I have fallen victim to party’s inner politics,” said Gupta over the phone before going into hiding.
Meanwhile, the BJP district unit said Gupta has been suspended as the party “believes in zero tolerance on corruption and crime”.
“No anomalies on crime and corruption are tolerated by the party leadership which is why we have suspended Sanjeev Gupta. Nobody has got the right to denigrate the party’s image and fill his or her own coffers with illegal means,” said BJP Meerut unit chief Sanjeev Singhal.
According to Meerut police, there are only four printing press in UP that have been authorised by the NCERT to publish books.
