Visva Bharati wants CBI's probe into Nobel prize theft to go on

Santiniketan, Sep 2 (UNI) Visva Bharati today expressed shock and surprise after being informed by the CBI that it had closed investigation on thefts of Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel medallion and other valuable treasures three years ago.

Visva Bharati, in a communique, said the CBI informed it had closed the investigation, which came as a surprising development to many former and present academics of the institution, that was founded by the Nobel laureate himself.

Vice-Chancellor and professor Rajat Kanta Roy said the CBI's letter, dated August 30, was delivered here this noon saying the India's premier investigating agency presently would not pursue further its probe on the thefts of Nobel medallion.

Lok Sabha speaker and local MP Somnath Chatterjee, reacting to the development noted, the CBI is India's biggest investigating agency and if it can not make any breakthrough, what can be done.

He said the theft of Nobel medallion was the saddest chapter of the nation.

He, however, said the investigation should have been continued.

Former Vice-Chancellor Sujit Kumar Basu, under whose tenure the thefts occurred, opined that the investigation could go for some more time.

He said many world famous treasures were stolen elsewhere and then retrieved but in this case the investigations were closed at an early date.

The academics here also were peeved at published reports in some newspapers today that the CBI came to a dead end at its investigation before Visva Bharati came to know about it. They demanded an inquiry into the latest development.

On March 25, 2004, thieves stole Tagore's Nobel citation and medallion after breaking Bichitra in the Uttarayan complex where other 30 items were also lost. Thieves also took away a gold pocket-watch and a ring belonging to Tagore, several paintings, silverware, ivory items, jeweller and a sari of Tagore's wife, Mrinalini Devi.

UNI