The Hindu : New Delhi News : Stolen paintings didn't belong to renowned artists, say police

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 20, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Stolen paintings didn't belong to renowned artists, say police

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MAY 19. Even as the Delhi police questioned about 10 people in connection with the theft of nearly 40 paintings and sculptures from Sahitya Kala Parishad gallery at College of Arts in New Delhi on Monday, they believe that the most of the missing works were not by famous painters as initially suspected.

According to a Sahitya Kala Parishad official, they would be allowed access the gallery only tomorrow. "The police told us this evening that we can go to the gallery on Wednesday. Since the collection was a huge one, it will take a couple of days to find out which paintings have gone missing," said the official.

For their part, the police have picked up about 20 fingerprints from the spot and have questioned nine persons in this connection. This included Inder Pal, the peon who had discovered the theft. The police have prepared a list of persons who had access to the gallery on a regular basis. They also claimed to have collected some scientific evidence from the spot.

Apart from that, the police are also likely to question people working in the headquarters of the Parishad at Satsang Vihar in South-West Delhi.

While it was earlier believed that the stolen paintings belonged to renowned artists, it now appears that most of them could have been the works by the upcoming artists. The gallery, located on the fourth floor of College of Arts on Tilak Marg, was used as an exhibition hall-cum-store room for the works created by the students.

The incident had come to light on Monday morning when Inder Pal, one of three persons taking care of the Parishad gallery, noticed that the locks on the doors to the gallery were broken. The thieves had carefully taken each painting out of its frame, rolled the paper or the canvas into a bundle and left. The police believed that the thieves took their own time to select the paintings.

Following the discovery, the local police had registered a case and the investigations were immediately transferred to the Crime Branch of the Delhi police.

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