General Naravane’s memoir: Delhi Police sends notice to Penguin Random House India

The book had triggered a political firestorm after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi had read excerpts from the memoirs in the Lok Sabha.

In a statement shared on X, the publisher had said, “… We wish to make it clear that the book has not gone into publication. No copies of the book — in print or digital form — have been published, distributed, sold or otherwise made available to the public by Penguin Random House India”.

The case was registered by the Delhi Police Special Cell and a dedicated team led by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) tasked to probe it. Officials said another team of the Special Cell is collecting details of the social media platform that shared the purported PDF. The platform may also be called for scrutiny in the coming days, they said.

According to police, posts and reports had claimed that a pre-print version of the book was being shared online even though mandatory clearances required for its publication had not yet been granted by relevant authorities.

“During verification, police found that a PDF copy of a typeset book bearing the same title was available on certain websites. The document appeared to have been prepared by M/s Penguin Random House India Pvt Limited. Additionally, some online marketing platforms were found to be displaying the finished book cover, suggesting that the book was available for purchase,” the Delhi Police had said in a statement.

Officers had said that the probe will focus on identifying the source of the PDF, the circumstances under which it was uploaded or circulated, and whether any laws governing publication, copyright, or official clearances were violated.