HYDERABAD: Stud farm owner Hasan Ali may have leveraged the Salar Jung brand to pass off ordinary items as 'antiques' in the international art market.
The Central Crime Station (CCS) police, who are investigating the Hasan Ali case, suspect that the con artist had been using the Salar Jung tag to dispose of the so-called antiques in the international market as the famous museum has a reputation on the art circuit.
While investigating the allegation that Hasan Ali spirited away antiques from the Salar Jung museum and sold them in the international market, the CCS officials grilled several people, including jeweller Rambharoj Gupta and a member of the Nizam family, Nazir Baig, whose names propped up in the Hasan Ali confession recorded by the Enforcement Directorate ( ED). Both of them called Hasan Ali a fraud and termed his allegations baseless.
So, police are short-listing people belonging to a royal family residing in the city to quiz them whether they had sold any antiques in the past to Ali, who is being probed for money laundering and stashing away black money in Swiss banks.
Based on allegations levelled by an anonymous person in a letter stating that several artifacts were missing from the Salar Jung museum, the Union ministry of culture in 1994 formed an expert
committee to probe the allegations. In its report, the committee said 630 items, which were part of the first inventory, were missing from the museum.
Based on the report, the ministry lodged a complaint with the CBI. After the investigation, the CBI, in its report to the culture ministry in 1997, stated that 267 items mentioned in the museum inventory were either damaged or misplaced, while the remaining ones were traced to the museum itself.
According to CCS officials, the CBI report stated that among the 267 damaged/misplaced items were 38 glass artifacts, part of the 'Aianakana' in Old Museum (Deewan Devdi) got destroyed while the museum was shifted to a new building in 1968, water colour paintings (66) and 131 other items.
The report also said that a painting (two ducks painted on a wooden plank which was a part of the Japanese gallery) was stolen.
As part of the probe, the CCS authorities wrote to the museum officials regarding the allegations of artifacts being siphoned off from the museum.
In reply to the letter, Salar Jung museum officials gave it in writing that Nazir Baig had never worked as an employee at the museum either as a custodian or a caretaker as claimed by Hasan Ali.
"They have also clarified that no item went missing from the museum after 1996, i.e., after the CBI investigation began. However, nothing has been done about items which were stated missing by the CBI," an official, who is part of the investigation, told TOI.
The Central Crime Station (CCS) police, who are investigating the Hasan Ali case, suspect that the con artist had been using the Salar Jung tag to dispose of the so-called antiques in the international market as the famous museum has a reputation on the art circuit.
While investigating the allegation that Hasan Ali spirited away antiques from the Salar Jung museum and sold them in the international market, the CCS officials grilled several people, including jeweller Rambharoj Gupta and a member of the Nizam family, Nazir Baig, whose names propped up in the Hasan Ali confession recorded by the Enforcement Directorate ( ED). Both of them called Hasan Ali a fraud and termed his allegations baseless.
So, police are short-listing people belonging to a royal family residing in the city to quiz them whether they had sold any antiques in the past to Ali, who is being probed for money laundering and stashing away black money in Swiss banks.
Based on allegations levelled by an anonymous person in a letter stating that several artifacts were missing from the Salar Jung museum, the Union ministry of culture in 1994 formed an expert
committee to probe the allegations. In its report, the committee said 630 items, which were part of the first inventory, were missing from the museum.
Based on the report, the ministry lodged a complaint with the CBI. After the investigation, the CBI, in its report to the culture ministry in 1997, stated that 267 items mentioned in the museum inventory were either damaged or misplaced, while the remaining ones were traced to the museum itself.
According to CCS officials, the CBI report stated that among the 267 damaged/misplaced items were 38 glass artifacts, part of the 'Aianakana' in Old Museum (Deewan Devdi) got destroyed while the museum was shifted to a new building in 1968, water colour paintings (66) and 131 other items.
The report also said that a painting (two ducks painted on a wooden plank which was a part of the Japanese gallery) was stolen.
As part of the probe, the CCS authorities wrote to the museum officials regarding the allegations of artifacts being siphoned off from the museum.
In reply to the letter, Salar Jung museum officials gave it in writing that Nazir Baig had never worked as an employee at the museum either as a custodian or a caretaker as claimed by Hasan Ali.
"They have also clarified that no item went missing from the museum after 1996, i.e., after the CBI investigation began. However, nothing has been done about items which were stated missing by the CBI," an official, who is part of the investigation, told TOI.
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