George Cross may go under the hammer again

Nath had put the medal up for an auction at London’s Dix Noonan Webb (DNW) in 2009 but chose to withhold it after the Himachal Pradesh police informed him that the medal may have been stolen from the widow of the soldier who received it. The bravery medal was posthumously awarded to Naik Kripa Ram,a soldier of the 8th Battalion of the 13th Frontier Force Rifles in 1946 and was collected by his widow,Brahmi Devi.

The state police have also sought the help of Interpol and the Ministry of External Affairs to retrieve the medal. “ Only three days back,we received a communication from the British police conveying that the medal can’t be returned. It has to go back to its lawful owner as the theft story doesn’t fit with the investigations. Ashok Nath is its lawful owner,” said the state Director General of Police (CID) I D Bhandari.

The Bilaspur police had earlier interrogated the prime accused Kripal Singh of Moga and persons whom he had sold the medal later. In London,however, Ashok Nath reportedly presented video footage to the British police that showed negotiations with Brahmi Devi for the medal.

The furore over the bravery medal gained spotlight after a retired IAS officer S S Chandel insisted that the George Cross was stolen and the state government should get it back.