Delhi Police notice to Penguin Random House India over Naravane book

The Delhi Police Special Cell has issued a notice to Penguin Random House India seeking clarification over the circulation of the supposedly 'unpublished' memoir of former Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane (retd), officials said on Wednesday, placing the publishing house at the centre of an investigation into the alleged unauthorised dissemination of the manuscript.

The notice follows an earlier suo motu action initiated by the police after copies of the yet-to-be released memoir surfaced on social media and messaging platforms, triggering concerns about potential legal violations and the handling of sensitive material. Acting on those reports, authorities registered an FIR and began examining how the document may have entered circulation prior to publication.

According to officials, the Special Cell has now formally approached the publisher with a set of queries aimed at establishing the chain of custody of the manuscript, its security protocols, and whether any authorised or inadvertent distribution could have occurred. “Delhi Police Special Cell has issued a notice to Penguin India. Through the notice, several questions have been asked, and responses have been sought,” a senior officer said.

The controversy centres on Naravane’s memoir, Four Stars of Destiny, which recounts his tenure as Army chief and touches on national-security and strategic decision-making issues, including the 2020 standoff with China along the Line of Actual Control.

The status of the book itself has been a source of uncertainty. While it is reported to be awaiting requisite clearance from the defence ministry prior to formal release — a standard requirement for writings by former senior military officials — Naravane had in 2023 publicly referred to the book as available, urging readers in a social media post to purchase it.

That apparent disconnect between the pending approval process and earlier promotional messaging has contributed to confusion about whether the manuscript was ever officially published or remained in pre-release circulation.

The manuscript entered the political spotlight after Congress MP and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi cited what he said were extracts from the published book during a debate in the Lok Sabha, using it to criticise the government’s handling of the border crisis. He later displayed what he said was a copy of the book itself, bought from a popular e-commerce platform.

His intervention led to protests from treasury benches and objections from the government, with questions raised about quoting from an apparently unpublished document in Parliament. Gandhi subsequently defended his remarks and challenged claims about the book’s status by citing the 2023 tweet by Naravane asking readers to buy his book, arguing that conflicting accounts from the publisher and the author could not both be correct.

That parliamentary confrontation intensified attention on the manuscript, with rival parties framing the issue through competing lenses — the Opposition highlighting transparency and accountability, and government supporters emphasising procedural propriety and national-security sensitivities. Against this politically charged backdrop, the alleged leak acquired wider significance beyond the publishing domain.

For investigators, however, the immediate focus remains on determining whether any laws were breached in the dissemination of the text. Police indicated that responses from Penguin Random House India would be examined alongside digital evidence gathered during the probe before deciding on further action.

With PTI inputs