Satyarthi's Nobel Prize replica recovered (Third Lead)

Child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi's Nobel Prize replica, stolen from his residence here last week, has been recovered, police said on Sunday. The Nobel laureate hoped for the recovery of its citation too and appealed to the public to inform the police if it is found.

Satyarthi's Nobel citation, replica of the medallion along with other medals and valuables were burgled from his Aravali Apartment residence in south Delhi's Kalkaji area on February 7 night.

"Majority of the stolen articles have been recovered with the arrest of the three accused on Saturday night. The replica of the Nobel Peace Prize, gold and silver jewellery, two laptop computers, one wrist watch, one I-Pad, four imported branded pens, and two cameras have been recovered," Deputy Commissioner of Police Romil Baaniya told IANS.

"We did not find the Nobel citation from the possession of the criminals but are trying our best to recover it," he said.

Calling the burglary an unfortunate incident, Satyarthi appealed to people to understand the value of the Nobel Prize and thanked the Delhi Police for its speedy recovery. He also expressed the hope that the Nobel Prize citation would be recovered very soon.

"I thank the police for speedy recovery of the Nobel replica. As the police have arrested three burglars, I hope they would soon recover the Nobel citation too. I appeal to the people to bring it to the notice of the police if they find the citation anywhere," Satyarthi told IANS.

The Delhi Police on Saturday night arrested three criminals -- identified as Rajan, 25, Sunil, 28, and Vinod, 35 (all brothers) -- in connection with the case.

Police said that Satyarthi's flat in Aravali Apartment was locked on the night it was burgled and that the Nobel laureate had gone to the US. He came back to Delhi on February 10 and gave a list of stolen articles.

Satyarthi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 jointly with Pakistani child rights activist Malala Yousafzai.

The original Nobel medallion given to Satyarthi is kept at Rashtrapati Bhavan as he dedicated it to the country.

Investigators found that two more burglaries took place in Aravali Apartments' Flats No.56 and 99, which were also locked, on the same night.

DCP Baaniya said he had constituted seven teams to crack the case.

"We raised suspicion over the area's infamous burglar Rajan and apprehended him from Sangam Vihar (south Delhi) on a tip-off. Later we arrested his two brothers and recovered the stolen articles," the officer said.

He said the accused, originally natives of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, were residing in the shanties near Aravali Apartments since birth but shifted to Sangam Vihar in 2005-06.

"But, they worked in the same locality as labourers. They are well aware about the topography of the area and hence decided to commit the burglary," Baaniya said.

Within hours of the arrest of the alleged burglars, Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik tweeted: "Was greatly concerned about theft of Shri Satyarthi's prestigious Nobel Medal replica. Proud that Delhi Police recovered it in quick time."

--IANS

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