The Hindu : New Delhi News : Police probing insider role in paintings theft

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

New Delhi

New Delhi

Police probing insider role in paintings theft

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MAY 19. With it now becoming clear that the paintings stolen from Sahitya Kala Parishad gallery in the College of Arts on May 17 belonged mostly to upcoming artists, the Delhi police are probing the likelihood of somebody closely associated with the institution being involved in the incident.

Even as the Sahitya Kala Parishad today began finalising the list of the missing paintings, it is learnt that it did not regularly buy paintings of prominent artists. While maintaining that the list of missing paintings would be finalised in a couple of days in view of the huge collection, Parishad sources claimed that paintings of the country's top two or three painters were "certainly not there in the gallery". They added that the institution had long ago stopped buying works of famous artists due to paucity of funds.

The only time that prominent painters contributed to the gallery was during the annual artists camps. The police had earlier said that the institution used to keep paintings of artists displayed at the annual camp as its own property. However, sources said the institution had lately been more involved with upcoming artists and even children.

Initially, the police had suspected that the theft could be the handiwork of people having links with inter-State or even international gangs involved in illegal sale and purchase of art works, artefacts and antiques. These gangs generally target those works which can fetch huge sums of money in the grey market. Therefore, the police were earlier under the impression that paintings of only prominent artists might have been stolen.

However, the police now suspect that there could be a market for cheap paintings also. According to a senior police officer, even normal paintings can be sold for a good price as not every art connoisseur can afford the works of famous artists. People also tend to buy cheap paintings for the purposes of decoration. The police have, therefore, not ruled out the involvement of an insider in the incident.

Already, the police are planning to question people who had regular access to the gallery and also the staff of the Sahitya Kala Parishad. Further investigations in the case are on.

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