Satyarthi’s Nobel citation found in plastic bag at Sangam Vihar
Delhi Police on Friday recovered the Nobel Prize citation that had been stolen from Kailash Satyarthi’s home in Kalkaji over a month ago.
A 15-member police team searched several areas in Delhi and Ghaziabad for almost 25 days while trying to locate Satyarthi’s Nobel citation.
The police team on Friday evening recovered the original citation wrapped in a plastic cover and kept in a leather bag next to a rock in the DDA Ridge Land opposite G Block of Sangam Vihar. The two layers of water-proof cover that the citation was wrapped in ensured that it suffered no damage.
The citation, the Nobel Prize replica and some other gifts received by Satyarthi from foreign dignitaries were among several valuables that were stolen after burglars broke into three flats in Aravali Apartments in Kalkaji early on February 7.
Five days later, the police had arrested the suspects, three brothers, and recovered all stolen items except the citation. During interrogation, the trio told police they had forgotten where they dumped the citation.
“The burglars had told us they dumped the citation as they were already carrying a lot of stolen items. It was of no use to them. We interrogated them for three days, but they could not remember the area. So, we formed a 15-member team to search for the citation,” said Romil Baaniya, DCP (southeast).
The police team took the help of sniffer dogs and horses during their search. They figured out the areas visited by the burglars while they were on the run and divided them into grids on a map.
For the next 25 days, the police team searched areas in Govindpuri, Sangam Vihar, Tughlaqabad, Jaitpur and Ghaziabad. The police also talked to friends of the suspects to identify areas.
“Whichever area or route we chose for a particular day, we would use sniffer dogs to launch a thorough search,” said a member of the police team. “The forested area of Sangam Vihar, where the citation was found, was the last area of the grid we searched,” the DCP said.
He said the citation was now case property and it will not be returned to Satyarthi immediately. “It will be returned only after court orders,” the DCP said.
Satyarthi, meanwhile, thanked the police for recovering the original citation. “Since I am the son of a policeman, I have always understood their sense of responsibility and commitment towards the nation,” he said in a statement.