Subramanyapura police raided two places and arrested one person on charges of illegally printing English works, including J K Rowling’s latest and last in the Potter series, Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows, which released on Saturday morning.

The police also recovered 10,000 copies of various books worth Rs 40 lakh. The arrested has been identified as Inayat (30). Another accused Babu (32) is absconding and search is on to arrest him.

DCP (South) Mr Alok Kumar told Deccan Herald   that the police were tipped off about the illegal printing of various books, violating the Copy Right Act at two venues in Ilyasnagar on Saturday night. The accused had set up a printing machine in a rented house where they printed the books during the night and stored them in a nearby godown. They then allegedly transported these pirated versions to other cities clandestinely including Mumbai and Delhi.

The police surrounded the accused when they were trying to shift the books from the godown but Babu managed to escape.

Mr Alok Kumar said it was difficult tell the original apart from the duplicate copies and added “We suspect that a systematic racket might be at work and vigil will be intensified to unearth such activities.”