The Hindu : New Delhi News : Theft at Shastri memorial, four arrested

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 04, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Theft at Shastri memorial, four arrested

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, APRIL 3 . Hot on the heels of the theft of Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel Prize and other memorabilia from the museum at Viswa-Bharati in Santiniketan, two iron almirahs containing books donated by the daughter-in-law of the former Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, were found stolen from the Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial in New Delhi today. Acting swiftly, the police arrested four persons including a guard of Rajasthan Armed Constabulary (RAC) and recovered all the books, most of them damaged.

According to Memorial officials, the almirahs were found missing from the premises this evening by the Assistant Administrative Officer, B.R. Umesh. One almirah was missing from the godown, and the other from the hall. These almirahs contained books belonging to Lal Bahadur Shastri's son Hari Shankar Shastri. After his death, his wife had donated these to the Hari Shankar Trust, which has its office inside the Memorial premises.

Mr. Umesh informed the Memorial caretaker, who in turn lodged a complaint with the Tughlak Road police.

During investigation, the police noticed that there were scratches all over the floor suggesting that the heavy almirahs had been dragged out of the building and taken away. Enquiries revealed that one Constable Dhanpat from the RAC was on duty on Friday night. The police picked him up for questioning.

During interrogation, Dhanpat purportedly broke down and allegedly confessed to having sold the books and the almirahs to junk dealers. He disclosed that he had conspired with a junk dealer, Khem Chand, to steal the books to make quick money.

Dhanpat said that while no one was in the Memorial premises - which is under renovation and hence all its room are kept open -- he entered the building and dragged the almirahs out on Friday night.

He and Khem Chand transported the almirahs to the godown of a Seelampur-based junk dealer, Abdul Rashid, in the slums near Humayun Road.

With the help of Khem Chand, Dhanpat allegedly sold the books to Abdul Rashid and his son, Bashir. The junk dealers tore the covers of the books weighing 95 kg and bought them at Rs. 4 per kg. Dhanpat also sold the almirahs to the junk dealers. The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Anita Roy, said Dhanpat, Khem Chand, Abdul Rashid and his son, Bashir, have been arrested and the books recovered.

Though Khem Chand claimed that he had provided rickshaws to Dhanpat to transport the almirahs to the Humayun Road jhuggis, the police suspect that they could well have used a tempo. More arrests in the case are likely.

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