The police arrested three persons on Thursday in connection with the burglary that took place in Kuvempu’s museum in Kuppalli on Monday night. But the stolen Padma Vibhushan Award is yet to be recovered, and the culprits are claiming to have lost it.
During interrogation, the accused told the police that the metal clasp on the medal broke away and the medal got lost, said M. Nanjundaswamy, Inspector-General of Police, Eastern range. The police have launched a search operation to trace it.
The arrested are: Revanasiddappa from Turachaghatta village in Davangere district, who is a habitual thief; Anjanappa from Kariganur village of Davangere district, who was working as a peon with Rashtrakavi Kuvempu Pratishthana for the past 10 years; and Prakash, a resident of Mandarahalli village in Shivamogga district.
Mr. Nanjundaswamy said Anjanappa had helped Revanasiddappa, but the burglary was executed by the latter alone. Both of them had received Rs. 10,000 in advance from Prakash, with an assurance that they would handover the medal to him.
The police have seized the other two metal badges, which were issued by the Mysuru University.
The IGP said 13 theft cases were registered against Revanasiddappa at various police stations in Shivamogga and Davangere districts.
The Shivamogga police had shared the footage of the burglary captured on CCTV with their counterparts in Davangere, Chitradurga, Chikkamagaluru and Haveri districts. Police at the internal security wing of Davangere recognised the person in the footage as Revanasiddappa, and he was nabbed from his village.
Based on information provided by him, the other two were arrested.
