[MSN] India. 75% of insurance for Tagore's stolen Nobel medal can be paid

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75% of insurance for Tagore's stolen Nobel medal can be paid

Posted at Thursday, 29 November 2007 16:11 IST Santiniketan, Nov 29: The 
National Insurance Company, that insured the Nobel medal of Rabindranath 
Tagore, is awaiting the final report of the investigating agencies, the 
CBI and West Bengal police, for settling the claim of its theft with the 
Viswa Bharati.

An NIC official said here although Viswa Bharati authorities wanted the 
insurance amount for the stolen Nobel medallion and other items to be 
paid immediately, the insurance authority could pay only a portion.

This was because the investigating authorities had not submitted the 
final report mentioning that the stolen items were lost forever or that 
the investigation was closed, he said.

In this situation, NIC could pay only 75 per cent of the sum assured as 
ad hoc payment, the official said.

The Nobel Medallion and other items were insured with the NIC, Suri 
branch. The sum assured for the year 2003-04 was around 3.59 crore and 
the annual premium was fixed at Rs. 98,000.

After the theft, the estimated claim by the university authority was Rs. 
2.39 crore, but the surveyor engaged by NIC valued it at Rs 95.89 lakh only.

The Nobel medal of Rabindranath Tagore was insured for burglary and fire 
and not as an antique item, the NIC official said.

The theft of the Nobel medallion and other artifacts from Rabindra 
Bhavan museum in Santiniketan was detected on March 25, 2004.

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