SC puts Damayanti in charge of museum probe

KOLKATA: The Supreme Court on Monday appointed senior IPS officer Damayanti Sen (Spl IG, CID West Bengal), who had solved the Park Street gang rape case, to directly supervise the investigation into the mysterious disappearance of Indian Museum preservation officer Sunil Upadhyay.
Additionally, the ministry of culture has been directed to file a status report on the working of Indian Museum in four weeks’ time.The ministry has also been asked to report in the matter of the antiquities missing or stolen from the Indian Museum.
Indian Museum has hogged the limelight in recent times for all the wrong reasons. Damage to the Asokan artifact Lion Capital of Rampurva is one of them.
Sunil Upadhyay, who questioned some of the irregularities, was dragged into the Lion Capital vandalism case. Since then, Upadhayay had gone into depression. His family and friends claimed that his disappearance has something to do with his whistle-blowing attempts in Indian Museum.
Meanwhile, Indian Museum officers who were found guilty by the ministry of culture probe committee in the mishandling of the Ashokan Lion Capital case, have been chosen as “couriers” of priceless Buddhist artifacts to be exhibited in China, Japan and Singapore. These officials were fixed for exemplary punishment at the Board of Trustee (BoT) meeting held earlier this month. The insurance value of each of these artifacts is worth several crores.
Indian Museum spokesperson Sayan Bhattacharya said, “Fourteen officers nominated as ‘couriers’ of the artifacts were chosen by the director of Indian Museum B Venugopal. I was informed that the nomination was placed before the BoT.”
But many BOT members have already expressed extreme displeasure over such a nomination.
Significantly, the repository of Budhist artifacts in Indian Museum is considered to be the finest, not only in India, but in the entire world. Around 91 artifacts, of
Rs 176 crore insurance value, including the 5th century BC standing Buddha (insurance value Rs 8 crore), 2nd century BC ‘worship of Bodhi tree’, representing Krakuchchhanda Buddha (Rs 8 crore), Muga Pakha Jataka of 2nd centuy BC (Rs 5 crore) and the 11th century BC ‘footprint of Buddha’ (Rs 3 crore) will be exhibited abroad.
The exhibition will also display the rare folios of Karandavyuha manuscript, Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita manuscripts and the Pancharaksha manuscript, the majority of which are from 12th century BC.
The officers found guilty by the BoT are Rita Dutta (deputy keeper, archaeology), Chhanda Mukherjee, (deputy keeper, N & E), Sumanto Roy (security officer), Sunil Upadhyay (preservation officer, now missing), Satyakam Sen (senior technical assistant, archeology), Anusua Das (senior technical assistant, archaeology), and B Dasgupta (OSD and Project manager).
Among the seven, Anusua Das, Sumantra Roy, Satyakam Sen have been chosen as couriers of the artifacts. Moreover, some officers who are completely unrelated to the curatorial jobs are being sent to China, Japan and Singapore. Out of 14 persons nominated for the job, only eight are curatorial.
Nita Sengupta and Badal Mandal, also nominated as couriers, feature in the list of those mired in controversies like fake Tagore paintings and illegal loan racket.