FIR against Sachin Gupta, son of a Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sanjeev Gupta for printing duplicate National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) books worth Rs 35 crore by UP police. So far, 12 people have been arrested in the case while Sachin is still on a run.

The state’s Special Task Force (STF) along with the police unearthed the scam in Meerut district, where they have confiscated six printing machines from the warehouse. “Sachin Gupta is the owner of the warehouse at Achhonda in Partapur and the printing press at Mohkampur. He is absconding at the moment and efforts are being made to arrest him. Shortly after the raid, police officers spoke to Sachin over the phone and he said that he was coming with the papers of books, but did not come later and also switched off his mobile,” STF DSP Brajesh Kumar Singh said.

STF sub-inspector Sanjay Solanki has also filed a case against the plant supervisor and five others, including Sachin Gupta, at the Partapur police station under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

During preliminary investigation, it was found that these duplicate books were published and supplied in several states including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi. Most of the books are for Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics from Class 9-12. About 364 types of fake NCERT books of NCERT and others were printed in this factory.

The investigating officers also received information that Sachin has been involved in printing fake books of UP board in the past as well. However, it is still unknown if any action was taken in that case or not.

The NCERT government books are available to retailers at 15 percent commission and their printing center is only in the national capital. To get genuine books, retailers have to pay the full amount in advance while the duplicate books are available at 30 percent commission to sellers, without any advance payment. The wholesale and retail booksellers are also involved in this gang.

Taking a dig at the BJP leader, the Samajwadi Party chief and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav tweeted on Saturday and wrote, “BJP, which changes the education policy, should first teach moral education lessons to its leaders, who are involved in the fraud of crores of fake books worth crores of rupees. The truth of the people clad in fake honesty has now been revealed.”