New Delhi: Penguin Random House India (PRHI) on Monday said it holds the exclusive publishing rights to former Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane’s memoir, Four Stars of Destiny, and clarified that the book has not yet been published amid reports of unauthorised copies circulating.

The statement from the publisher came after the Delhi Police registered an FIR over the alleged illegal distribution of the manuscript in digital and other formats.

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PRHI said that no copies of the book, either in print or digital form, have been released to the public.

“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,” the publisher said.

The company added that no copies of the memoir have been “published, distributed, sold, or otherwise made available to the public” by PRHI.

It warned that any version currently in circulation, whether in full or in part and in any format, would amount to copyright infringement.

“Any copies of the book currently in circulation, in whole or in part, whether in print, digital, PDF, or any other format, online or offline, on any platform, constitutes an infringement of PRHI’s copyright and must immediately be ceased,” the statement said. PRHI also said it would pursue legal remedies against the unauthorised dissemination of the material.

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The Delhi Police said a case has been registered with its Special Cell to investigate the alleged leak or breach of the yet-to-be-approved publication, and an inquiry is under way.

The controversy emerged after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was seen displaying a purported copy of the book in the Parliament complex last week. He had sought to quote excerpts from the memoir in the Lok Sabha since 2 February but was prevented from doing so because the book has not been published.

(PTI)