RailEnquiry

GUWAHATI: Government Railway Police (GRP) sleuths on Tuesday arrested one Bhabesh Mishra (40) from the Guwahati railway station in connection with a case of supplying pirated National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks in the state.The GRP nabbed Mishra, who runs a book stall while he was visiting the railway station to pick up a parcel of books that came from Delhi.According to GRP, an NCERT official warned the railway police on Monday about the consignment of pirated books and the sleuths acted on the tip. "The parcel has more than 2,000 pirated textbooks, mostly Higher Secondary science books, in some 20 cartons. Mishra came to pick up the parcel, which had arrived from Delhi. We believe he runs an illegal business of supplying pirated textbooks in the state," said a GRP official.Mishra rubbished the charge and denied his involvement in the crime. He said, "One of my friends from Delhi asked me to pick up the consignment of books from the railway station and to send it to Tezpur and Imphal. I have no hands in supplying the pirated books."The policeman added, "We have been alerted that there is a racket involving sale of pirated books operating from here. These booksellers, are selling pirated versions of the official textbook in the other districts of the state. This consignment of books is also pirated."

According to NCERT officials, the fake publishers replicate the original textbooks using inferior material and push them into the market on huge discounts. "Retailers are also a part of the nexus and they push pirated books to students as they get a hefty commission," said an official. The council has a distribution centre in Guwahati and some 386 centres across the country. He added that piracy is more common in books for Classes IX and XII as they are printed mostly in two colours.