Eight sporting medals, including a 1980 Moscow Olympic gold medal, stolen last month from the residence of former hockey player MM Somaya in east Bengaluru’s New Thippasandra, have been recovered, the city police said on Wednesday, announcing the arrest of two suspects.
Somaya thanked the police for recovering the medals and other belongings. We finally managed to detect the case and recover the stolen articles. We will ensure that they do not repeat such acts,” police commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said, announcing a ₹ 1 lakh reward for the police. Apart from the gold medal, the country’s last Olympic gold in its national sport, the recoveries included a silver from the 1982 Asian Games, a bronze from the 1986 Seoul Asian Games, a bronze from the 1982 Champions Trophy in Amsterdam and a gold from the Loiano tournament in Italy. Participation medals from the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Olympics and a silver medal commemorating the 300th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh were also recovered.
Because we did not have any clues, “This was one of the most challenging cases for us.
“I feel like I have won the medals all over again,” he said. A third person, their accomplice, is still on the run, police said. Police said the suspects sold a gold medal and a silver medal to a firm in Rajajinagar. Singh said police recovered two medals from the firm, while the other six were found at one suspect’s Hoskote house.
The two accused have been involved in similar crimes earlier.
