Naravane memoir row: Delhi Police issues notice to Penguin over circulation of unpublished book

LoP Rahul Gandhi with a printed copy of former Army chief MM Naravane’s memoir

• Delhi Police issued notice to Penguin India over Naravane's unpublished memoir
• Rahul Gandhi's pre-release printed copy sparks controversy
• Book was printed and found in stores before MoD review and official launch

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Delhi police has issued a notice to Penguin Random House India, the publisher of Ex-Army chief General MM Naravane’s unpublished memoir - Four Stars of Destiny - which came out before its official release.

This action comes after questions were raised about how Congress leader Rahul Gandhi obtained a copy of the book, intensifying the political dispute.

Through the notice, several questions have been asked, and responses have been sought, said Delhi Police.

The Special Cell has already registered an FIR after taking cognisance that a pre-print copy of the book was being circulated.

Investigators have described the matter as a probe into a “purported leak/breach of a yet to be approved publication," and said efforts are underway to verify the claims and identify the source of any unauthorised material.

Former Army chief General (Retd.) MM Naravane on Tuesday endorsed the stand taken by his publisher, Penguin India, amid the ongoing controversy over his unpublished memoir, Four Stars of Destiny.

In his first public reaction since the row erupted, Naravane, in a post on X, said 'This is the statue of the book, aligning with the publisher’s clarification.

Physical copies of the book were found in bookstores in Delhi before being recalled, raising fresh questions about how the manuscript, still under review by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), was printed and bound at all.

However, last week, Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi was seen holding a hardcover copy of the book inside the Parliament complex.

What he waved was not a manuscript or a draft, but a printed hardback. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had said in Lok Sabha that the book “does not exist”.

The memoir, chronicling four decades of Gen Naravane’s service from Second Lieutenant to Army Chief during the India-China standoff at the Line of Actual Control, was slated for release in April 2024.

Penguin Random House India (PRHI), the publisher, had opened pre-orders on platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart, which were later cancelled after the release was stalled.

A staffer at a legacy New Delhi bookstore told India Today: “We took hundreds of pre-orders for the book… But a controversy happened, and we had to return the books to the publisher".

This indicates that the book had been printed well ahead of its planned launch.