Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel theft: CID gets vital leads, begins search

Kolkata: The CID has started combing operation at Bolpur in Birbhum district of West Bengal in connection with its probe into the theft of Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel Prize medal in 2004.

After interrogation of baul singer Pradip Bauri, arrested for his alleged involvement in the theft of the Nobel Prize medal, the CID has detained Bolpur-resident Sanjay Hazra, a senior officer said.

“Bauri has given us many leads including the name of this person.

He was picked up from his residence in Bolpur this Friday and detained. We have already started questioning him,” the senior officer said. In fact, the CID has started “combing” Bolpur for those named by Bauri, he added.

“We will also summon those who were earlier questioned by the CBI in connection with the investigation of the Nobel theft,” the IPS officer said. It was also learnt, that the CID has gathered finger prints of both Bauri and Hazra as part of their probe into the matter.

Bauri was detained for nearly two weeks by the CBI during its investigation into the case. Bauri, who was the gram panchayat pradhan of Ruppur from 1998 to 2003, had allegedly given shelter to the culprits involved in stealing the medal and helped them flee the state. The CID has also got the name of a Bangladeshi national, Mohammed

Hossain Shipul, supposedly the mastermind of the plot and two Europeans also involved in it. “We have planned for step by step approach to get hold of these people,” the officer said.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said in August that if the state government was given the responsibility, it could try to retrieve the Nobel medallion stolen from a museum of Visva Bharati University. The SIT formed thereafter consists of Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, ADG of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Rajesh Kumar and IG of CID (II) Javed Shamim.

The Nobel medal and the citation, bestowed to Tagore in 1913, were stolen from Visva Bharati University's museum. The CBI had taken over the case soon after, but failed to recover it and closed the case in 2007. However, under political pressure, the case was reopened in 2008 and closed again in 2009.