Artifacts stolen from PAU museum
Burglars stole as many as 141 items of 39 different types from the Punjab Agricultural University’s Museum of Social History and Rural Life of Punjab.
Among the stolen items are 12 brass bells of three different sizes, brass utensils and traditional jewellery, investigating officer ASI Janak Raj said. Police said burglars stole 52 items from room 1, 47 items from room 2, 12 items from room 5, four items from room 6 and 26 items from phulkari section.
According to the police, the incident had occurred on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday but the matter came to the notice of university officials on Wednesday and a complaint was lodged.
The ASI said the burglars had entered the museum from a window on the backside by cutting the wire mesh.
The police scanned the CCTV camera footage of the main entry gates of the university, but didn’t find anybody entering the campus.
“The burglars had removed glass covers of the display cases meant for the artifacts while some glass covers were also found broken. Fingerprints are being collected and investigation is on. An FIR has been registered against unidentified people,” he said.
Second such incident in 14 months
Burglars had targeted Maharaja Ranjit Singh war Museum, Jalandhar bypass, on February 6, 2020, and stole a khukhri displayed in the gallery. A man was captured in the CCTV camera escaping from the museum with khukhri in his hand. However, no arrest could be made in this connection