LUCKNOW: It was a tip-off by Military Intelligence (MI) sleuths, who were on a recce of an obscure godown in Meerut as part of anti-terror vigil before Independence Day, that busted the Rs 50-crore racket of printing of NCERT books.
MI personnel got a whiff of the scam during a discreet surveillance of the facility after receiving inputs of suspicious activity at Kashigaon, Achronda Road under Partapur police station of Meerut. They shared intelligence inputs with Special Task Force (STF) of UP , who too joined the investigation.
Late on Friday, STF along with local police raided the facility, but the kingpin Sachin Gupta wriggled out of the dragnet and even burned down a similar stock of books at his main factory in Mohkampur Enclave, Sabzimandi. “During the raid, at least 1.5 lakh books were seized from a godown in Kashigaon, but the owner managed to flee,” said an STF officer.
Four persons in the factory premises — Shivam, Rahul, Akash, Sunil Kumar — were arrested for failing to provide proof of printing NCERT books with government approval and later questioned for leads.
“They disclosed that owners, Sanjeev and Sachin Gupta, ran the racket and had employed two youths, Vikas Tyagi and Nafees to route the stock to Meerut after printing at Delhi’s TNHK printers and publication,” said deputy superintendent of police, STF, Brijesh Singh. The seized books are being systematically counted, the officer said. “It also came up during investigation that these books were being supplied to buyers in multiple states, including UP, Uttarakhand and Delhi and transported in vehicles with BJP flags stuck in the bonnet to avert suspicion,” said Singh.
The owner of the facility, Sachin Gupta, 30, reached the main factory in Mohkampur Enclave and burnt down a huge stock. Six printing machines were seized from the factory, the STF said.
An FIR was registered against the kingpin’s aides, Shivam, Rahul, Akash, Sunil Kumar, Sanjeev Gupta, Sachin Gupta, Vikas Tyagi and Nafees.
MI personnel got a whiff of the scam during a discreet surveillance of the facility after receiving inputs of suspicious activity at Kashigaon, Achronda Road under Partapur police station of Meerut. They shared intelligence inputs with Special Task Force (STF) of UP , who too joined the investigation.
Late on Friday, STF along with local police raided the facility, but the kingpin Sachin Gupta wriggled out of the dragnet and even burned down a similar stock of books at his main factory in Mohkampur Enclave, Sabzimandi. “During the raid, at least 1.5 lakh books were seized from a godown in Kashigaon, but the owner managed to flee,” said an STF officer.
Four persons in the factory premises — Shivam, Rahul, Akash, Sunil Kumar — were arrested for failing to provide proof of printing NCERT books with government approval and later questioned for leads.
“They disclosed that owners, Sanjeev and Sachin Gupta, ran the racket and had employed two youths, Vikas Tyagi and Nafees to route the stock to Meerut after printing at Delhi’s TNHK printers and publication,” said deputy superintendent of police, STF, Brijesh Singh. The seized books are being systematically counted, the officer said. “It also came up during investigation that these books were being supplied to buyers in multiple states, including UP, Uttarakhand and Delhi and transported in vehicles with BJP flags stuck in the bonnet to avert suspicion,” said Singh.
The owner of the facility, Sachin Gupta, 30, reached the main factory in Mohkampur Enclave and burnt down a huge stock. Six printing machines were seized from the factory, the STF said.
An FIR was registered against the kingpin’s aides, Shivam, Rahul, Akash, Sunil Kumar, Sanjeev Gupta, Sachin Gupta, Vikas Tyagi and Nafees.
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