UT court acquits 6 in 6-yr-old heritage furniture theft case

The six accused, Rajesh Kumar, Sakila, Usha alias Sweety, Sunil Kumar, Fakir Chand and Anil Kumar, were acquitted from the Sections 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), by the Court of Puneet Mohinia, JMIC (Judicial Magistrate-First Class).

Police said that the two women, Sweety and Sakila, had conducted a recce of the storeroom where the furniture was kept. On the night of January 18, at around 3 am, the women broke the locks and entered the storeroom in the basement of the college where the furniture was kept. One of them then called Sunil who further called Anil at 3.30 am, as Anil had a car, which was used to load the furniture. Anil took his friend Rajesh along with him to the spot and loaded the furniture in his vehicle. The accused then had a conversation with Fakir Chand, a dealer. The accused then escaped after keeping some furniture with Fakir Chand at Sector 25 and some at Sunil’s house. Some more was kept with the women, along with the table.

During the trial, the defense counsel, Advocate Rabindra Pandit, argued that the accused were falsely implicated in the case, alleging that there was discrepancy in the statements of prosecution witnesses. Advocate Pandit said the complainant also did not support his own version before the court.

After hearing the arguments, the court acquitted the accused from the charges on Saturday. A detailed judgement in the matter is yet to be released.

Acquittal raises concerns

The acquital of the six accused in the 2016 high-profile theft of heritage furniture, which took place a few days before the visit of then French President Francois Hollande, at Government Museum has raised concerns. So far, at least six FIRs have been registered in connection with the theft but most of these cases are under trial. The latest theft of heritage furniture was reported from Panjab University (PU) when 48 heritage chairs were found stolen from Sociology department in November, 2020.

Usha alias Sweety, who was acquitted on Saturday, was among five accused arrested for stealing the heritage furniture from PU in November, 2020. That case is still under trial. Other accused included a Zirakpur-based carpenter, Sarfraz, and Naresh Mittal, who deal in the sale-purchase of old furniture. During investigation of at least three cases, links of certain Mumbai-based people came to the light but police failed to arrest them.

Advocate Ajay Jagga, member UT Heritage Items Protection Cell, said, “The acquittal of six accused is a setback for the UT administration and it must file an appeal in a higher court. The remaining cases should be hand over to the CBI.” Sources said that the kingpins shipped off the stolen items from Chandigarh to other countries. This is why police failed to give a logical end to the investigation, sources said.

To investigate the 2020 heritage theft case, two teams of Crime Branch were dispatched to Mumbai but they returned empty handed. Mumbai links had also surfaced in the 2016 heritage furniture theft case. Interrogation of the accused Sunil Kumar and Faqir Chand revealed that they were receiving calls from Mumbai. An officer said, “The written judgment of the court decision is yet to come. First we will go through the judgment and then decide the next course of action.’ The first FIR was registered in 2012. Hundreds of heritage items were recovered from two godowns and an SIT was also constituted. But it failed to make any concrete conclusions.