CBI: Finding medal matter of chance

Though the replicas have come, the CBI hunt for the originals is yet to make headway. Since Tagore’s Nobel medallion was reported missing on March 25, 2004, investigators have questioned hundreds. And now, the CBI says finding the medallion would be a matter of chance. ‘‘It’s evident that it was a case of burglary and getting the medallion will be by chance,’’ said Parthasarathi Bose, DSP, CBI, investigating officer in the case. ‘‘The CBI has not lost hope and efforts are on to crack the case.’’ ‘‘It was a simple case of burglary. The miscreants are interested in selling gold. Even the Baluchari (sari) missing among 52 items had gold in it,’’ said a CBI source.

The police have so far, collected 52 fingerprints from the scene of crime. ‘‘We have collected 99 fingerprints, including those of burglars to match with them. But so far, not one of them is matching,’’ said a CBI official.

Since a reward of Rs 10 lakh was announced for information that may lead to the cracking of the case, CBI was flooded with letters. ‘‘We have received about 2,000 letters, claiming different things. We have also received a letter from Rajasthan. But none of the letters — all unnamed — could give a clue,’’ said Bose. The police had also launched search operations in Jharkhand.