The Supreme Court on Friday expressed concern on priceless Indian artifacts stealthily making their way to foreign auction houses such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s with no probe ordered in this regard by the Centre even after the Comptroller and Auditor General reported it last year.
“As citizens of this country, we share the concern that our country’s prized possessions are found in london and elsewhere. Union of India should also be concerned,” said a Bench of Justices J Chelameswar and SA Bobde. The comment came on a petition filed to trace a missing officer of Indian Museum, Kolkata. Sunil Kumar Upadhyay was posted as the Conservation Officer when he went missing from his Kolkata home in July this year. He was a whistleblower who exposed serious irregularities in the functioning of museum.
Upadhyay’s brother who raised suspicion over his brother’s untimely death had produced the CAG report in Court along with a letter by the Ministry of Culture seeking CBI probe into the functioning of the museum that possibly could have led to Upadhyay’s disappearance.
While the West Bengal police is currently probing the missing officer’s case, the Bench felt there was need for a senior police officer above the rank of Inspector General to supervise the probe. The West Bengal police counsel who was present in Court had denied foul play indicating that Upadhyay could be mentally depressed as he was overlooked for promotion. The bench said, “It is very fine submission by state but we do not know where the truth lies.”
The Bench asked petitioner’s lawyer and senior advocate Dushyant Dave to suggest the name of a police officer by next week following which it will indicate the ambit of probe. “There are serious complaints against the museum,” said the bench, while prodding the Centre to do its job after coming to know of such serious irregularities given by CAG.
CAG faulted the Museum authorities for maintaining no records of priceless artifacts, fake antiquities on display, and antiquities of national importance making way to international auction houses - Sotheby’s, Christie’s, without any government record to show ASI or any agency participating or approving of such sale.