M A I N   N E W S

Bengal for CBI probe into Tagore’s Nobel medal theft
Subhransgshu Gupta

A student on hunger strike in front of a museum in Santiniketan on Sunday. He was among 24 students protesting against Thursday’s theft in which the gold Nobel medal awarded to Rabindranath Tagore was stolen. — Reuters photo

Kolkata, march 28
Even after five days of the theft of Tagore’s Nobel Prize and other valuables, there has been no breakthrough. The chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, today formally announced to hand over the inquiry into the incident to the CBI.

Shortly after reaching Santiniketan around 1 pm and meeting the vice-chancellor, Dr Sujit Bose,  Mr Bhattacharjee announced the handing over of the inquiry to the CBI.

He said in view of the seriousness of the case and its implication, the CBI had been asked to probe it. He, however, said the CID had been inquiring in the right

direction and would continue with its probe.

Describing it as “a very painful incident”, the Chief Minister said “what all we wanted was to recover the prestigious prize and other valuables and bring the culprits to book”. Hence, the CBI had been asked to conduct probe in addition to the inquiry conducted by the state, he added.

Mr Bhattacharjee said after his talks with the Vice-Chancellor he cell phoned the Prime Minister from Santiniketan to covey to him their decision to hand over inquiry to the CBI, but Mr Vajpayee was not available. Afterwards, he talked to the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, and requested  him to order a CBI probe into the incident.

In Kolkata, the state Home Secretary, Mr A.K. Deb, said in the evening  he had sent an urgent fax to the Union Home Secretary with a request to institute a CBI inquiry into the theft of Nobel Prize and other valuables.

New Delhi: The CBI said on Monday night that it was ready to take up on an urgent basis the probe into the burglary. Sources said the agency was waiting for a formal notification from the West Bengal Government which could lead to the registering of the case. — PTI

Loss of pride, says Amartya Sen

Kolkata, March 28
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said today the theft of the Nobel Prize medallion was “not a national crisis but we have lost our pride’’.

“It is a sad event and very unfortunate. Now is the time to remember the thoughts of Tagore more,’’ said the Economics Nobel laureate on his arrival here from England.

“People are losing touch with Tagore. It should be revived. It is important that we preserve his thoughts and philosophy,’’ said Professor Sen.

“I have heard about the incident but I don’t know about security lapse. I can comment on that after I reach Santiniketan,’’ said Professor Sen who would leave for Bolpur tomorrow.

“Incidents like this happen all over the world but we have to see how fast it can be recovered,’’ he said. — UNI