New Delhi, March 13 (IANS) Delhi Police’s Crime Branch has busted a racket of pirated copies of NCERT textbooks and arrested a warehouse owner while seizing more than 5,000 counterfeit books during a raid in north Delhi, officials said on Friday.

Acting on a secret tip-off, a team of the Anti-Robbery and Snatching Cell (ARSC) of the Crime Branch conducted a raid at the warehouse located in Shahbad Daulatpur village and recovered 5,011 pirated copies of NCERT books meant for students from Class I to Class XII.

The accused, identified as Arvind Kumar, a resident of Delhi, was apprehended from the spot. Police said the recovered books included both English and Hindi medium editions.

According to the Crime Branch, the team had been monitoring a syndicate allegedly involved in the printing and sale of pirated NCERT textbooks in Delhi and the National Capital Region.

On March 12, officials received specific information that a large quantity of counterfeit NCERT books had been stored in a warehouse in Shahbad Daulatpur and were being distributed from there.

A special team comprising Sub-Inspector Sandeep Sandhu, Assistant Sub-Inspector Prempal Singh, and Head Constables Anuj Sirohi, Abhinav, Naveen and Indrajeet was formed under the guidance of Inspectors Mangesh Tyagi and Robin Tyagi and under the supervision of ACP Sanjay Kumar Nagpal.

During the raid, officials found a large number of NCERT textbooks stored inside the warehouse. Representatives of the National Council of Educational Research and Training were called to the spot and confirmed that the books were pirated copies.

Police subsequently seized the counterfeit books of various classes and arrested the warehouse owner.

A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with provisions of the Copyright Act and the Trademark Act, at the Crime Branch police station. Further investigation is underway to identify others involved in the printing, storage and distribution network of the pirated textbooks.

Officials said Arvind Kumar started selling pirated NCERT books in 2022 after failing to clear competitive examinations.

Police records show that he was previously involved in two similar cases registered in 2020 and 2025.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime-I) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said further investigation is underway to trace the wider network involved in publishing and distributing pirated textbooks.

–IANS

sn/vd