Baul singer arrested for role in theft of Tagore’s Nobel medal

A ‘baul’ singer was arrested for his alleged connection with the theft of Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel medal in 2004, PTI reported on Saturday.

An unidentified Kolkota-based Crime Investigation Department official told the news agency that a Special Investigation Team apprehended accused Pradip Bauri from his residence in Birbhum district’s Ruppur village early November.

A court has approved narco-analysis test on Bauri in Gujarat. Officials said he had provided shelter to the culprits responsible for the theft at a Visva Bharati University museum and that he had even helped them escape.

The initial probe revealed that Bangladeshi national, Mohammed Hossain Shipul, had planned the theft, which involved two Europeans as well.

In August, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that if given the responsibility, her government would try to retrieve the stolen prize. The Special Investigation Team was formed soon after that announcement.

Tagore had won the Nobel medal and citation in 1913. The Central Bureau of Investigation had taken on the case but closed it in 2007 after failing to secure any leads. The case was reopened in 2008 after political pressure, only to be closed in 2009.

Source: Scroll In