The Social Service Branch of the Mumbai police conducted raids at four spots and busted an alleged inter-state book piracy racket.
The Social Service Branch (SSB) of the Mumbai police conducted raids at four spots on Thursday and busted an alleged inter-state book piracy racket. The police also arrested 12 booksellers, and seized 3,247 pirated copies of various bestsellers printed by foreign publishers.
Among the books seized are bestsellers like Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, The Alchemist, the Da Vinci Code and Manual Of The Warrior Of Light.
The accused are Ranjeet Mandal, 21, Ramshagun Mandal, 33, Dinesh Mandal, 18, Dilipkumar Rambha, 29, Paltan Mandal, 21, Kapildev Singh, 22, Anilkumar Singh, 20, Mintu Singh, 20, Lalit Singh, 20, and Sanjay Mandal, 20, Sudar Tevar, 38, and Mani Maran, 19.
Raids were conducted at stalls near Allani Centre on MG Road, Kala Ghoda where 512 books were seized. At least 764 copies were seized from near Mumbai Vidyapith on MG Road. 1,046 copies were seized near VSNL building at Churchgate. The last raid was near Maheshwari Udyan on Ambedkar Road, Matunga, which fetched 925 copies.
“We launched the operation after being informed by a copyright agency that pirated books were being sold in large numbers,” said Sanjay Mohite, DCP (Enforcement). The SSB was accompanied by representatives of IP Butic Information and Research, an intellectual property rights enforcement organisation, based in Delhi, which has been appointed by 11 publishers to act as a watchdog in the country.
“This is a very organised racket. The books are printed for Rs15 to RS20 in Bangalore and then brought here by a transporter. He also takes back a demand draft to the printers,” said Anil Kumar, an official from IP Butic Information and Research.
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