During the inspection, officials discovered 10,000 to 30,000 illegally printed textbooks of Balbharati. While Balbharati’s production officer estimated the quantity to be between 10,000 and 20,000, officials said
The action followed a tip-off about the printing of duplicate textbooks, officials said. Representational Pic/File/iStock
Officials from Balbharati, the Maharashtra government’s body responsible for producing and publishing state board school textbooks, conducted a raid on Wednesday at a printing press in Nagpur and found textbooks being illegally printed, reported the PTI.
The action followed a tip-off about the printing of duplicate textbooks at Pratibha Printing Press, located in the Digdoh area of Hingna MIDC.
During the inspection, officials discovered 10,000 to 30,000 illegally printed textbooks of Balbharati. While Balbharati’s production officer, Rajesh Potdukhe, estimated the quantity to be between 10,000 and 20,000, the sales store manager in Nagpur, Dilip Witkar, suggested the number could be as high as 30,000, according to the PTI.
Complaint being filed
The officials on Wednesday said that a complaint is being lodged and further investigations are underway. The incident highlights concerns about counterfeit educational material in the state.
About Balbharati
Balbharati – formally known as the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research – is an autonomous government institution. It develops, publishes, and distributes textbooks and educational resources for Classes 1 to 12 in Maharashtra, catering to Marathi, English, Hindi, and Urdu medium schools.
Mumbai Police raids 9 travel agencies, seizes 238 passports in job-fraud probe
Meanwhile, in a different case, earlier this month, Mumbai Police conducted raids on as many as nine travel agency offices in the Nagpada area of the city after receiving inputs on overseas employment allegedly without proper government permission, officials had earlier said.
The raids were conducted jointly by Mumbai Crime Branch and Protector of Emigrants (POE) after receiving reports that several operators were also allegedly misleading people with false promises, they said.
According to the officials, during the searches, cops recovered 238 Indian passports along with employment letters, logbooks, rubber stamps, visiting cards and various forms commonly used for overseas recruitment. All items have been seized for further investigation.
The action followed a complaint from the POE office in Bandra, which reported that multiple travel agencies were operating as unauthorised recruitment agents. Officials said these operators had allegedly been collecting money from job-seekers and offering foreign placements without the necessary licence from the Ministry of External Affairs.
A joint team of the Crime Branch and POE carried out the operation. An offence has been registered at Nagpada Police Station under Sections 318(2) and 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 10 and 24 of the Immigration Act, 1983. The investigation is ongoing to identify affected complainants and uncover the full extent of the suspected job-fraud racket.
(with PTI inputs)
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