Fake NCERT textbook seizure: Special staff inspector of Delhi Police suspended, inquiry ordered against 2 cops
Almost a month after the seizure of fake NCERT textbooks worth Rs 2.4 crore, the Delhi Police on Wednesday suspended a special staff inspector and initiated a departmental inquiry against two sub-inspectors for alleged irregularities in connection with the case.
In a major crackdown, the Delhi Police on May 16 seized counterfeit National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks, based on a tip-off to the accused inspector. The raid, in which three people were arrested, was part of an operation led by the in-charge of the Special Staff of Shahdara district.
A joint team led by the police and NCERT officials arrived at Mandoli Road on May 16 before proceeding to a shop owned by Prashant Gupta, 48, and his son Nishant Gupta, 26, the police said. They were present at the shop along with five or six labourers aiding in the illegal activity, police had said.
The other two sub-inspectors set to face the departmental inquiry belong to the Special Staff team and the AATS (Anti Auto Theft Squad) team of the Shahdara district.
'Special Staff is usually deployed for hard crime cases. The raids on counterfeit NCERT books are not usually their responsibility. It will look into how and when they got the approval for the raid,' a senior police officer said.
The police said that they would investigate the alleged irregularities of finances during the raid and the jurisdiction of the officer to conduct the raid.
However, after the May 16 raid, the Delhi Police held a press conference, announcing the operation.
On April 15, the Delhi police seized as many as 4,091 counterfeit NCERT books of different classes from a man named Arvind Gupta, 33, who was selling these books to students and shopkeepers at Samaypur Badli.
Gupta, operating from Rohini Sector 16, allegedly sourced the counterfeit copies from multiple printing presses across Delhi to avoid detection.
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