Hand over Quran manuscript theft probe to CBI, says HC

SRINAGAR: Not satisfied with the investigation conducted by the crime branch into the case involving theft from the state museum of a Quran manuscript bearing the seal of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed transfer of the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 22

Not satisfied with the investigation conducted by the crime branch into the case involving theft from the state museum of a Quran manuscript bearing the seal of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed transfer of the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Almost 13 years after the theft of a manuscript of the Quran was reported from the state museum, the crime branch of the J&K Police had closed the case as “untraced” in March.

The HC, hearing a public interest litigation into the matter, was not satisfied with the investigation conducted by the crime branch and did not accept the closure report.

“We direct that the investigation shall stand transferred to the CBI. The CBI shall conduct the investigation into the case,” a division Bench of Justices MH Attar and Ali Mohammad Magrey said in its orders today.

The directions came after the IGPmade a statement in the court that the investigation by the crime branch was not conducted “fairly”.

He suggested that the CBI could “properly and effectively” investigate the case as it had “technical resources” and “resources and expertise” to conduct an investigation into such cases.

Subsequently, the HC directed the crime branch, Kashmir, to hand over the record of the case to the CBI. The trial court was instructed to hand over dairies pertaining to the case to the crime branch to enable it to hand over the record to the CBI.

“We are further satisfied that a proper and effective investigation will result in tracing the manuscript of the Quran and identification of culprits,” the division Bench observed in its orders.

The theft of the rare manuscript was reported from Shri Pratap Singh State Museum, Srinagar, in 2003. An FIR had been lodged by the museum authorities at the Rajbagh police station.

Subsequently, the probe into the case had been taken over by the crime branch of the J&KPolice, which closed the case as “untraced” in March.