Quran theft: Court seeks fresh status report from CBI

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has sought a fresh status report from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after being informed that the probe agency “had not reached any definite conclusion” with regard to its ongoing investigation into the case involving the theft of the rare holy Quran manuscript bearing the seal of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb from the Srinagar museum.

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 16

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has sought a fresh status report from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after being informed that the probe agency “had not reached any definite conclusion” with regard to its ongoing investigation into the case involving the theft of the rare holy Quran manuscript bearing the seal of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb from the Srinagar museum.

“The CBI investigation report has not been filed. Assistant Solicitor General TM Shamshi said the report will be filed on the next date of hearing because so far the investigating agency has not been able to make substantial progress in reaching any positive conclusion,” a division bench of Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir and Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey said in its order made available today. It directed the CBI to file the fresh status report on the investigation four days prior to the next date of hearing fixed on February 2, 2018.

Almost 13 years after the theft of the manuscript was reported from the state museum, the Crime Branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Police closed the case as “untraced” in March 2016.

Not satisfied with the investigation conducted by the Crime Branch, Kashmir, the J&K High Court on September 22, 2016, transferred the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

After taking over the investigation into the case, the CBI in its subsequent status reports to the High Court had revealed that it was in the process of comparing the description of the manuscript with a “Quran Sharif” with similar features that had been confiscated by the Crime Branch of Delhi and kept at National Archives of India, New Delhi.

Stolen in 2003

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 was taken over by the Crime Branch of the J&K Police which closed the case as “untraced” after 13 years of investigation in March 2016