A pair of round-framed spectacles belonging to India's independence icon Mahatma Gandhi have gone missing from a museum in western India, officials said.
Mahatma Gandhi's followers were shocked on Monday morning after learning that his spectacles went missing from Sewagram Ashram in Wardha district.
Ashram inmates on Monday (13-June-2011) noticed that the specs were not found along with the other belongings of the Father of the Nation that were kept in a locked showcase.
"Yes, Mahatma Gandhi's specs have been missing since for about three months from the locked showcase. We have been worried over it since then," Sevagram Ashram Pratishthan president M M Gadkari told media. Gadkari said the specs were given to the Ashram by Gandhi's daughter-in-law, the Late Nirmalaben Gandhi, who lived on the premises for many years. "She had said that it wasn’t the one he usually wore."
Gandhi settled down at Sewagram, about 75km from Nagpur, in June 1936. The Ashram, which receives about three lakh visitors annually, is celebrating its platinum jubilee later this week (June 15-16).
Ashram president MM Gadkari said its employees were asked to keep silent about the missing glasses.
"We had made a list of the belongings of Gandhiji that were placed in the hut where he used to stay," Gadkari told IANS.
"Somehow, the glasses were not included in the list. Those who cleaned the hut took a few days to realise that the glasses are missing," he added.
Gadkari lodged a police complaint on Monday. He said all other articles were still present.
"The decision not to reveal the theft was taken by ashram inmates. We thought we will ourselves investigate the matter. Else it would have created unnecessary sensation in the public," he said.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan ordered a 'high-level' probe into the incident after Wardha officials met with him, the IANS news agency reported.
Ashram inmates on Monday (13-June-2011) noticed that the specs were not found along with the other belongings of the Father of the Nation that were kept in a locked showcase.
"Yes, Mahatma Gandhi's specs have been missing since for about three months from the locked showcase. We have been worried over it since then," Sevagram Ashram Pratishthan president M M Gadkari told media. Gadkari said the specs were given to the Ashram by Gandhi's daughter-in-law, the Late Nirmalaben Gandhi, who lived on the premises for many years. "She had said that it wasn’t the one he usually wore."
Gandhi settled down at Sewagram, about 75km from Nagpur, in June 1936. The Ashram, which receives about three lakh visitors annually, is celebrating its platinum jubilee later this week (June 15-16).
Ashram president MM Gadkari said its employees were asked to keep silent about the missing glasses.
"We had made a list of the belongings of Gandhiji that were placed in the hut where he used to stay," Gadkari told IANS.
"Somehow, the glasses were not included in the list. Those who cleaned the hut took a few days to realise that the glasses are missing," he added.
Gadkari lodged a police complaint on Monday. He said all other articles were still present.
"The decision not to reveal the theft was taken by ashram inmates. We thought we will ourselves investigate the matter. Else it would have created unnecessary sensation in the public," he said.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan ordered a 'high-level' probe into the incident after Wardha officials met with him, the IANS news agency reported.
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