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Four held for printing pirated NCERT books

More than 48 hours after the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force and the Meerut police raided godowns and printing press units in Meerut and Amroha for printing pirated versions of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) books worth crores, the alleged mastermind Sachin Gupta and his uncle and co-accused Sanjeev Gupta were still absconding.

On Saturday evening, the Bharatiya Janata Party suspended Sanjeev Gupta, the vice-president of its Meerut unit, for damaging the image of the party. Meanwhile, the police have arrested four persons, including the supervisor of the godown in Meerut.

On Saturday, the STF recovered around 9 lakh pirated books with NCERT logo from a godown which allegedly belonged to the Guptas in the Partapur area of Meerut, an official release said.

“Four members of the racket have been arrested and 8,90,439 pirated books were recovered from the godown situated on the road between Achhrod and Kashi in Partapura area of Meerut,” the release said.

The STF has also recovered nine computers, bill books, letter pads and visiting cards from what Brajesh Kumar Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police, STF, described as a “big set up”.

The team also raided a printing facility in the Gajraula town of Amroha which also belonged to the Guptas.

‘Officials informed’

“The counting of pirated books in the Gajaraula unit is still on,” Mr. Singh said, adding NCERT officials have been informed about the raids.

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