The Madhya Pradesh police have arrested a man, Shahid Kureshi, operating eight madrasas in Mandsaur district, for allegedly collecting books in names of non-existent students and selling them in the scrap market.

Shahid Kureshi was taken into custody after more than 16,600 books were seized from a tractor-trolley in an industrial area on the outskirts of Mandsaur town. Two other men, involved in transporting the books, were also taken into custody.

“It took us just 10 minutes to discover what was wrong,” claimed Mandsaur district project coordinator (DPC) Yogendra Mishra.

The Madhya Pradesh Text Book Corporation (MPTBC) has started numbering every book under the flagship scheme to keep a track on its journey and distribution. After Sunday’s seizure, Mishra said the project officials tallied the number on the book cover with the name of the beneficiaries through the record kept at the block office. After matching the numbers and names, the officials discovered that students in only one of the eight institutions had received the books so far, Mishra said.

Inspector Ashutosh Mishra of Yashovardhan Nagar police station said Kureshi had collected extra books by giving fake names of students. “The books can’t be sold in the open market because it’s clearly mentioned that they are meant for free distribution. Kureshi was all set to sell the books as scrap,” Inspector Mishra said.

Kureshi, however, maintained that he was innocent and that the books were meant for distribution. However, he could not explain how the books were being distributed on a Sunday evening.

Kureshi claimed that not less than 11,000 students were studying in the madrasas run by him. Mishra admitted there was no monitoring or periodical inspection of these institutions.

Only madrasas registered with the Bhopal-based Madhya Pradesh State Madrasa Board are covered under the SSA. Board chairman Mohammed Gani Ansari said that the seizure was a result of rivalry between the madrasa operators.

Ansari said, “Only the court can bring out the truth in the matter.”

According to him, it was only an accident that the books were found from an industrial area, and denied that the enrolment figures were faked. He said he had sought a report from a board member, who belongs to the town.

Last year, thousands of SSA books were found from a scrap depot in Betul. Then additional director of Rajiv Gandhi Shiksha Mission, Santosh Mishra, who probed the matter, had recommended a bigger inquiry because he suspected the racket was bigger than it looked. Books were also recovered from Dhar and Jhabua among other places. Mishra had also hinted that books were over-ordered by showing fake enrolments.