Lucknow: Five of Ustad Bismillah Khan’s silver shehnais were stolen from his son Kazim Hussain’s residence in Varanasi.
The theft was discovered on Sunday night when Kazim Hussain returned home in Dalmandi locality and found the lock of the main gate broken. “I went in and found that along with the shehnais, some other gifts and awards in precious metals that were given to my father were missing,” he said.
Mr Hussain had gone to visit his ancestral home last month and returned to Varanasi on Sunday night.
Mr Hussain told reporters that the stolen shehnais were special because late Bismillah Khan used to play them especially on the fifth and seventh day of Moharram each year.
“We lodged an FIR last evening after we discovered the theft in our new home in Dalmandi area. The stuff that was stolen included four silver shehnais, one made of wood and silver, Inayat Khan award and two gold bangles,” Bismillah Khan’s grandson Razi Hassan told a news agency. The family had recently shifted to Dalmandi area and the theft happened when they were visiting their ancestral place in Sarai Harha.
One of the shehnais had been gifted to late Bismillah Khan by former Prime Minister Narsimha Rao and the other were given to him by RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Congress leader Kapil Sibal and a former pupil. Bismillah Khan, who passed away in 2006, was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2001.
The family is now left with Bismillah Khan’s Bharat Ratna medal, Padma Shree and some other medals, he added.
