Tagore?s medal

Santiniketan, Dec. 5: A gold duplicate of Rabindranath Tagore?s Nobel medal and its bronze replica will arrive in Delhi on December 7 along with a senior Swedish government official.

Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor Sujit Kumar Basu said: ?We have already received a communication in this regard from the Swedish embassy in Delhi.?

The medals are being sent by the Swedish Academy, which gives away the Nobel Prize.

Tagore?s original was stolen from the Rabindra Bhavan museum at Uttarayan along with several other memorabilia. The theft was discovered on March 25.

Basu today wrote to Swedish ambassador Inja Eriksson Fogh inviting him to bring the medals to Santiniketan, where they would be accepted at a function before the Pous Mela begins on December 23.

?We will be most delighted if the Swedish ambassador himself comes to Santiniketan with the duplicate and the replica of the Nobel medal. We have invited him and we are eagerly looking forward to the occasion,? said Basu.

Director of Rabindra Bhavan Nirmal Bhattacharya will meet officials of the Swedish embassy on this score.

Basu said: ?We will still be very happy if the thieves are arrested and the original medal is found. This time, we will preserve the two medals with greater care.?

Registrar Sunil Kumar Sarkar said if the Swedish ambassador does not accept the invite, varsity officials would go to Delhi to collect the medals.

The gold duplicate, he added, would be kept in the strong room and the bronze replica will be on display for visitors to the museum.

Three CBI officials are still camping at Uttarayan to investigate the heist. ?We have got some local leads,? said one of the sleuths.