The 1950 gm gold tiffin box stolen from the Nizam's museum in Hyderabad last week has been recovered after the Hyderabad Police solved the case of theft of antique items from the museum and arrested two people.
A senior police officer said that the police has also recovered priceless articles including a cup studded with rubies, diamonds and emeralds, a saucer and a spoon belonging to the 7th Nizam Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur.
On September 2, valuable items from the third gallery of the museum at Purani Haveli were stolen following which fifteen special teams were formed to probe the theft. "All stolen items have been recovered. Two accused have been apprehended," the official told media.
The police had suspected the involvement of more than one person in the theft after the CCTV footage of the museum that had indicated that two masked men had walked out of the museum and escaped on a motorbike, had gone viral on social media. According to police, one of the accused had entered the building through a ventilator.
Following the theft, the grandson of the 7th Nizam and president of the Nizam Family Welfare Association Nawab Najaf Ali Khan had written a letter to the Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar and had asked him to give utmost priority to recovering the missing artefacts.
Questioning the security arrangments at the museum, Khan had said that there was a big question mark on the management running the museum as their negligence and poor security arrangements had given easy access to the thieves. In the letter, Khan had given a detailed acount of the priceless items that the museum stores.
The Nizam's Museum houses the precious collection of Nizam Osman Ali Khan, the 7th and the last Nizam and also his father's wardrobes. Silver and gold artefacts are also displayed in the gallery along with replicas of landmark constructions. The precious items include souvenirs, gifts presented by other rulers and dignitaries and many more priceless items.
The museum is also home to exhibits from the Nizam's personal gold and silver collection that are carved intricately and are studded with diamonds and rubies. It also features the massive wardrobe of the 6th Nizam, a 150-year-old manually operated lift and 200-year-old proclamation drums, Khan had written in the letter.
(With PTI inputs)
