Five people, including a woman, were arrested in connection with the theft of the Padma Bhushan medallion of former Panjab University VC GC Chatterjee, the Delhi police said on Wednesday.
The accused have been identified as Shrawan Kumar (33), Hari Singh (45), Rinki Devi (40), Ved Prakash (39), and Prashant Biswas (49), all residents of Madanpur Khadar here, they said.
According to the police, Biswas is a jeweller who allegedly bought the medal.
On Tuesday, Hari Singh, Rinki Devi and Ved Prakash went to a jeweller, Dalip, to sell the medallion having two golden embossments on both sides. Dalip did not buy it and alerted police, a senior police officer said.
In the meantime, the accused left the shop, they said.
Police swung into action and a team comprising the SHO Kalindi Kunj and other personnel was formed under the supervision of the ACP Sarita Vihar in order to arrest the accused persons, they said, adding that the CCTV footage of the area was checked.
After a thorough analysis of the CCTV footage and gathering local intelligence, the three accused were identified as Hari Singh, Rinki Devi, and Prakash Biswas, the officer said.
On sustained interrogation, it was found that the medallion was stolen by Shrawan Kumar, who works as a medical attendant to Samaresh Chatterjee, a Saket resident and the grandson of G C Chatterjee, police said.
Samaresh Chatterjee is not in good health and lives alone.
Shrawan Kumar stole the medallion and handed it over to the three accused persons for its disposal, the officer said.
All the accused were nabbed by the staff of Kalindi Kunj police station.
The medallion has been recovered, while efforts are being made to recover the golden Lion Capital embossment and circular brass disk of the medal, the officer said.
The stolen Padam Bhushan was granted to G C Chatterjee who was the vice chancellor of Panjab University, Rajasthan University, member of the Union Public Service Commission, and chairman of National Book Trust, the police said.
