3 arrested for theft at Satyarthi's house, Nobel replica recovered

Six days after Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi's house was burgled and his Nobel Prize replica was stolen, the police made a headway and arrested three brothers in the case.

The police have managed to recover the Nobel Prize replica along with the medals, and have also recovered various electronic goods and jewelry that the accused

had stolen from two other houses at Aravali Apartments in South East Delhi. However, the original copy of the Nobel citation, is yet to be found.

The three accused - Rajan, Vinod and Sunil - were arrested from Sangam Vihar area, after the police constituted ten teams, who were conducting simultaneous

raids across the Capital.

"We had studied the modus operandi used by the accused, and made a detailed list of all burglers who were on bail or were recently released from jail," said RP

Upadhaya, Joint Commissioner of Police (South Eastern Range).

For the Delhi police, this case was a matter of pride, as the Nobel Prize has been stolen five times in world history, and the very first Nobel prize theft involving India,

was in the year 2004 when Rabindra Nath Tagore's Nobel Prize was stolen, and was never found.

This time around, without wasting any time, the police had managed to ascertain that Rajan was behind the burglary. "Three houses were burgled into that night, and

during our investigation we found that Rajan was involved in the crime. He had also shifted his house three times in Sangam Vihar, which was highly suspicious,"

Upadhaya added.

Since Rajan was involved in previous cases of burglary in the area he was picked up from Aggarwal Sweets, near Sangam Vihar area. When he was questioned, he confessed to his crimes and also revealed the locations of the other two accused.

The three accused were related to each other and used to live in jhuggis near Aravali Apartments a few years ago. "The three of them are painters who used to live

near Aravali Apartments since their birth. In 2005-6, they had shifted to a slum in Sangam Vihar, but since they knew the topography of the area, they thought of committing burglaries," Upadhaya added. The accused had later come to know that they had stolen the Nobel Laureate's Prize, and had tried to dispose of it but were unable to find any buyer.

So far, the police have managed to recover, two laptops, one Rado wrist watch, an Apple I-Pad, four imported pens, two cameras, gold and silver jewellery.

But the Nobel citation is yet to be found. In a statement to the press, Kailash Satyarthi thanked the Delhi Police for their efforts and confirmed that the Citation is yet

to be traced.

"I thank the Delhi Police for the brilliant and speedy recovery of the items stolen from my residence and I hope that the Nobel citation is recovered soon as well. Nothing can deter my mission to work towards my children," said Sathyarti.

The police have not answered the queries from this paper and have told the media that they are still compiling the list of all items stolen and will be returning the items to their respective owners.