Some items found in Tura, Jowai and Guwahati museums
Museum heist
SHILLONG: The preliminary inquiry conducted by the Art and Culture department has revealed that altogether 54 items have gone missing from the Captain Williamson Sangma State Museum.
Informing this here on Tuesday, Art and Culture director Matsiewdor War said that initially it was thought that the number of missing items would be more.
After proper verification some items, which were initially marked as ‘missing’, were found in three small museums at Tura, Jowai and Chilpigram in Guwahati,” War said.
According to her, it is difficult to ascertain the actual reason for the missing of these items “since the acquisition of the items for the museum had started way back in 1976.”
She also informed that the department had filed FIRs in 1984, 1992, 1994 and 1999 regarding missing of the items from the museum.
“But we did not have any official record in the department about the items which were missing. Police also do not have any information which would have helped to follow up the case,” War said.
The Art and Culture director also indicated that there are possibilities that some items had gone missing during the shifting of the museum from the old Assembly building at Khyndailad to the present location.
According to her, they started to get some kind of information that some items had gone missing after the present museologist had conducted a detailed study of the Accession Register in 2009.
“In fact, the officer of the Accountant General (Audit) had found missing of only eight items. It was the museologist who have unearthed 54 items have disappeared,” War said.
She also said that she would soon write to the State Government suggesting on the need to conduct a detailed inquiry into the matter.
When asked about an inquiry by an independent body, War said that it is up to the State Government to take the final call on this.
Earlier on August this year, the Art and Culture department had filed an FIR about the missing of Gold, copper and silver ornaments, head chura with red stones, antique coins, arte facts, bamboo and cane materials and unique garments of Khasi-Jaintia and Garo tribes were the items worth several lakhs of rupees found missing from State Museum ( Williamson Sangma Museum) over many years.