CBI fails to trace Viceregal Lodge bell, files closure report
SHIMLA : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a closure report in the case of a historic 30-kilogram bell that was stolen from the Viceregal Lodge that houses the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS).
Filing a closure report in a special court here on June 7, the investigating agency said it had been unable to trace the bell, which was gifted by the erstwhile king of Nepal, Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah, to the then viceroy Lord Curzon in 1903.
Confirming the news, CBI’S spokesperson in Delhi RK Gaur told HT that the “case will be reopened If we get some leads.”
The eight-metal alloy antique bell was stolen from the Viceregal Lodge on April 2, 2010. Tied to a 60 kg wooden plank and placed outside the reception hall of the IIAS, it attracted tourists and visitors coming to IIAS, many of them wanting to be photographed with it.
The Lodge, once the Summer Palace of the viceroy, was built in the Jacobethan style (a combination of Elizabethan and Jacobean styles) in 1888 during the regime of Lord Dufferin. It was renamed the Rashtrapati Niwas after Independence and on October 20, 1964, the then president of India S Radhakrishnan had inaugurated the IIAS.
The theft of the bell had led to much speculation as IIAS has two-tier security, which led Shimla police to the conclusion that it could not have been stolen without connivance of someone from IIAS and that a vehicle had been used to commit the crime.
After the Shimla police filed a closure report in 2013, the IIAS filed an application in the court asking for CBI to take over the case. More than 100 persons were then questioned by CBI officials and statements of 21 local suspects recorded.
However, the investigating agency, too, did not get any leads despite announcing a ₹1lakh cash award for clues in the case and conducting a narco test (using a combination of drugs on subjects to extract information they are otherwise not willing to share) of the IIAS chowkidar (guard).