Delhi Police Notices Penguin Over Leaked Naravane Memoir in Rahul Gandhi Row

FIR Filed: Probe into Criminal Conspiracy and Manuscript Leak

The Delhi Police responded by questioning how the memoir reached Rahul Gandhi despite being unpublished. Not long after, an FIR was lodged, and in only 24 hours, two clarifications were made by Penguin . 

The notice, officials said, asks for answers to a number of questions tied to the unpublished memoir and invites the publisher to join in the investigation, after the Delhi Police Special Cell lodged a case on criminal conspiracy charges following the purported leak of the book. 

BJP Protests: Unpublished Book Barred from Parliament

The controversy over Four Stars of Destiny began when Rahul Gandhi tried to quote from it in the Lok Sabha to decry the government, and had to face opposition from senior ministers.
While Gandhi started quoting from the book, the BJP protested strongly. Subsequent to launching the attack, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh declared that an unpublished book cannot be cited in Parliament.
Speaker Om Birla subsequently held that Gandhi could not quote from the work as it amounted to unpublished literature and had not received any authenticated references. This episode only intensified the political dispute, with people asking how an unpublished book came to Rahul Gandhi before it was officially put out by its publisher. 

Publisher Warns of Copyright Breach in Leaked Copies

Penguin Random House India said that the book has not been officially released and is still pending clearance from the Ministry of Defence. The publisher also warned that any circulating PDFs or physical copies would be an infringement of copyright.
As the case escalated, Delhi Police lodged an FIR over the alleged illegal circulation of the manuscript in digital and other formats.
“Delhi Police Special Cell has issued a notice to Penguin India. Through the notice, several questions have been asked, and responses have been sought,” said Delhi Police.

Penguin Clarifies: No Copies Released

Penguin Random House India said it held exclusive publishing rights to the memoir and insisted that no copies were publicly available, in a statement on Monday.
“In light of recent public discourse and media reporting, Penguin Random House India would like to clarify that we hold the sole publishing rights for the book 'Four Stars of Destiny', a memoir by General Manoj Mukund Naravane, former Chief of the Indian Army. 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 publisher said officially.