The unpublished memoirs of former army chief General (retired) MM Naravane were in “illegal” circulation for months and were uploaded on multiple social media and other websites, an investigation by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police revealed, officials said on Thursday.
According to the police, the book was made available digitally and physically before its release. (PTI)According to the police, the book was made available digitally and physically before its release. Senior police officers of the Special Cell said they have now listed all the websites where part or the entire book was uploaded in PDF format. Police have registered an FIR alleging criminal conspiracy, among other offences, for the alleged illegal circulation of manuscripts in digital and other formats.
The police are yet to reveal the details of the FIR in the case.
“All these websites are not only involved in piracy of a book but also a criminal conspiracy to release critical information without the approval of the Ministry of Defence. People from different countries accessed the book for months. We will send notices to these websites. We are still trying to trace the source who planned the leak and started it. We suspect that the primary domain was uploaded using US domains and other countries). The book was also uploaded,” said an official.
Meanwhile, a special cell team visited Penguin Random House India’s Gurugram office on Wednesday. The team has now shared that they have developed a list of 15 key questions for their initial investigation.
“We asked for details about their ISBN, book covers and contents of published soft copies. We also asked about their published hardback covers, asked who was involved in making, editing and publishing the book covers. They answered some of our questions and asked for time to answer other questions. The interrogation at their office lasted for at least two hours.
The book was scheduled for release in January 2024, and the news agency Press Trust of India carried an excerpt from it in December 2023. At the same time, Naravane also tweeted that his book was “available now” and pointed to a pre-order link from Amazon.
Asked about the citations, police said they have not questioned any news organizations for now and will write to Meta and Amazon during further investigations.
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The unpublished memoir is at the center of a row that started last week after Leader of the Opposition (LOP) Rahul Gandhi raised excerpts from General (retd) Narvan’s book on India-China relations in the Lok Sabha on February 2. However, Speaker Om Birla stopped him from quoting from the book, following which the opposition created a frenzy in the House.
Later, Gandhi held a purported physical copy of the book on the Parliament premises, as he doubled down on his claim that the Modi government had mishandled the border dispute with China.
In a statement issued on Monday, Penguin Random House India said it retains exclusive publishing rights to the memoir and stressed that no copies have been released to the public.
“In light of recent public discourse and media reporting, Penguin Random House India would like to clarify that we have sole publishing rights to the book ‘Four Stars of Destiny’, the memoir of former Indian Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravaan. We would like to clarify that the book has not gone for publication. No copies of the book, in print or digital form, have been published or sold. Otherwise made available to the public by Penguin Random House India,” the publisher said in its statement. said
The publisher also warns that any version currently in circulation – whether in print, PDF or online – would amount to copyright infringement.
HT tried to reach the publisher but did not receive a response
