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| HC asks CS to consider CBI's plea for accommodation, logistics | | Theft of Mughal era Quran copy | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, Dec 7: The state high court has directed the chief secretary to consider CBI request to provide it accommodation and logistics to enable it conduct speedy investigation into the theft of a copy of the Holy Quran bearing the seal of a Mughal Emperor from Shri Pratap Singh (SPS) museum here in 2003.
Hearing a PIL, a division bench of Justice M H Attar and Justice B S Walia also directed the CBI to file status report about the investigation by next date of hearing.
The court directions followed perusal of a compliance report by CBI IG. In the report, he stated that in pursuance to the court directions, a case was registered by CBI on October 27 this year and investigation of the case had been taken up by the concerned investigating officer.
CBI has prayed that in order to enable it to conduct speedy investigation, the J&K chief secretary be directed to provide it suitable accommodation, comprising of three rooms with further logistic support, which, inter-alia, would mean providing of two vehicles, appropriate security and manpower, including one officer of the crime branch, Srinagar, who is conversant with the case and local languages, ie (Dogri and Urdu.
"The chief secretary shall consider the CBI request and provide necessary logistic support to enable the premier investigation agency to conclude investigation of the case at the earliest," the court said and directed the additional advocate general to file the status report in this behalf.
The PIL was filed in 2008 by a Srinagar-based social organisation, seeking directions for the protection and conservation of artifacts, monuments and excavation sites in Kashmir, besides directions to find the manuscript of the Quran and other prized articles.
The rare Quran copy was stolen from SPS museum in broad daylight in September 2003. More than thirteen years have passed but there is no clue of it.
Pertinently, an FIR No 106/13 was registered by Rajbagh police station in Srinagar soon after the employees of the Museum found the wooden locker broken and rare copy of the Quran missing.
Three years later police closed the case as 'untraced'. In 2007, the state government officials took up the matter with CBI, requesting it to investigate the matter, but its officials refused to intervene, saying 'the incident being local in nature the matter may be got investigated through local police.'
The court's intervention has already led to retrieval of 31 copper and silver coins, besides one gun bearing accession number 412 along with other artifacts from the research wing of SPS libraries, which were gifted to Shimla Museum in 1973.
The PIL states the archaeological excavations and artefacts of Kashmiri's rich heritage have been neglected and alleged that a number of rare manuscripts and coins are missing from the SPS museum. |
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