[MSN] India, Kolkata. Antiques stolen from CU campus

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Antiques stolen from CU campus
13 Dec 2007, 0220 hrs IST,TNN

KOLKATA: Invaluable antique items, worth crores in the black market, 
have gone missing from the Alipore campus of Calcutta University’s 
archaeological department. The theft was detected on Tuesday night but 
the university authorities have not been able to determine how many 
artefacts are gone.

CU officials have confirmed that at least five ancient artefacts cannot 
be found. Their combined value is at least Rs 1 crore - and the price in 
the black market many times more. "The thieves knew what they were 
looking for. It appears to be the handiwork of insiders who knew the 
security gaps in the department," a police officer said.

"We believe it is the handiwork of insiders who knew the value of the 
articles they were taking. Also, those involved in the act were 
definitely aware of the security ring surrounding the artefacts," said 
CU registrar Samir Bandopadhyay.

The incident has rattled the university authorities but the police 
investigation has revealed another can of worms. Investigators were 
shocked to see that the university took little care to protect the 
priceless antiques. The box in which they were kept wasn’t even locked. 
The theft would have been as simple as picking them up and walking off 
the campus.

“It is likely that a larger number of antiques is missing than what the 
university has reported. We have found signs to indicate that several 
artefacts were displaced. We have asked the university to check their 
register and find out exactly how many are missing,” said an investigator.

But CU has still not been able to put a number to it. "They could only 
tell us about the most famous ones, like an exquisite clay pot and an 
ancient copper axe. These are priceless in the international antique 
market," said an investigator.

Investigators were shocked to see the lack of care and surveillance in 
keeping these artefacts. None of the showcases had any locks. Often 
teachers and students take away these priceless artefacts for class 
demonstrations but no record is kept of it, say police.

This is the third high profile antique theft in the state in recent 
years. On March 25, 2004, Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel medal was stolen 
from Visva Bharati. And on December 29 that year, an ancient Buddha bust 
was stolen from Indian Museum. CBI probed both cases but failed to find 
any trace of the stolen artefacts.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com