Ex-Army chief Naravane's book 'leak' is a coordinated effort to bypass clearance by Defence Ministry, police say

Rahul Gandhi holding up General MM Naravane's book outside the Parliament

• Delhi Police say memoir leak was coordinated, not whistleblowing.
• Penguin Random House India questioned on ISBN and delayed response to leak
• PDF and book cover leaked online; publisher denies official release.

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The Delhi Police’s preliminary investigation into the alleged leak of a pre-print copy of Four Stars of Destiny, the unpublished memoir of former Army chief Gen MM Naravane (retd), has indicated that the breach may not have been the work of a whistleblower but part of a coordinated attempt to bypass mandatory clearance from the ministry of defence, an official said on Wednesday, as quoted by the Times of India.

The special cell has expanded the scope of its probe and added the charge of “hatching a criminal conspiracy” to the FIR. It has also issued a notice to publisher Penguin Random House India, seeking responses to a detailed set of questions.

According to officials, the investigation is examining the alleged sale or distribution of the pre-print copy in countries including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. “The first leaks were allegedly uploaded to .io domain extensions of British Indian Ocean Territory. Thereafter, they found their way into several other hosting platforms,” an investigator said.

Police are analysing the International Standard Book Number (ISBN), a 13-digit identifier visible on the leaked versions of the book, and plan to question the publisher regarding it. “The publishers will also be questioned on why their statement on X came only after the registration of the FIR, and why they didn't approach the police immediately after the leak was known,” the official said.

Investigators said a PDF version of the book, allegedly created by Penguin Random House India, was available on certain websites. Some online marketing platforms also displayed the finished book cover as if it were available for order.

Penguin Random House India has clarified that it holds sole publishing rights to the book and has not released it in any form.