Former India hockey captain M M Somaya has got back the 1980 Moscow Olympics gold medal, nearly two weeks after it was stolen from his Bengaluru home, with the city police arresting two men and recovering all eight international medals taken in the burglary.
Somaya, a three-time Olympian who led India at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and was part of the gold-winning side in Moscow, said the police had been reassuring from the first day. "I feel I have won the Olympic medal once again," he told reporters, thanking City Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh, DCP (East) Vikram Amathe and Indiranagar police inspector Anand and their teams.
The theft took place on October 28 at his residence in HAL 3rd Stage, under the Indiranagar police station limits. Somaya and his family had left for their native Kodagu district on October 25 and returned to find the front door lock broken and medals, gold and silver articles and cash missing. A neighbour alerted them, and a case was registered the same day.
The Indiranagar police formed eight special teams. Acting on intelligence inputs, they arrested Manikya alias Manikanta (31), a labourer, and Bharat (25) near Hagalahalli Cross in Ramanagara on November 9, and seized the two-wheeler allegedly used in the crime, police said. Manikanta has 33 cases registered against him, 25 in Karnataka and eight in Tamil Nadu, police said; Bharat faces two cases, of murder and theft. A third suspect is absconding.
Interrogation showed that one gold and one silver medal had been sold to a gold-buying firm in Rajajinagar, while six medals and other articles were kept at an accused's house near H Cross in Hoskote. Besides the Moscow gold, the haul included silver from the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi, bronzes from the 1986 Seoul Asian Games and the 1982 Champions Trophy in Amsterdam, a gold from the Loiano tournament in Italy, participation medals from the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Olympics, and a silver linked to the 300th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh. A traditional Kodava dagger, a camera and an Olympic kit bag were also recovered.
The two accused were remanded to police custody for eight days on November 10. Singh announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for the police team. Police said the burglary appeared to be a random break-in and that the accused did not know the medals' value.
(With inputs from PTI and media reports)