The vacant case of the Buddha head that went missing from Indian Museum. (PTI)

Wednesday?s theft of the 5th Century Buddha head from Indian Museum has brought to light the fact that most of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the Archaeology Long Gallery, where the priceless work was displayed, do not work. The few that do, have no recording facility.

As a result, footage cannot be retrieved and examined. ?It is incredible how ancient the system is. There are priceless exhibits worth crores here. This is a joke in the name of surveillance,? a detective said.

The glass box in which the sandstone head was displayed posed no problem for the thieves. If one of the four panels is pushed slightly, the one in front would open easily, even if the lock was in place. The lifters may have been aware of this and so, chose to strike at a time when the flow of visitors was at its peak.

?You need two or three persons to create a human wall in front of the case, while another person takes the artefact out. It was placed at a particular angle and those involved knew how it could be lifted,? an employee of the museum?s archaeology department said.

The thieves were also aware that the CCTV closest to the statue did not work ? a fact that was corroborated by city detective chief Peeyush Pandey.

Police on Thursday interrogated over 40 museum employees, searched their houses, put five fingerprints recovered from the spot under the scanner but failed to make any headway in the theft. ?There are reasons to believe that it was an inside job,? Pandey reiterated on Thursday. Pandey and deputy commissioner (central) Gyanwant Singh scanned the spot once again.

?We have around 45-odd personnel on security duty, against a required strength of 95. The authorities have been repeatedly warned of this situation. Yesterday, there was only one guard on duty in the hall,? said Ananta Das, secretary of the Indian Museum Employees? Union.

Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, as chairman of the museum?s trustee board, inspected the site and held detailed discussions with the museum director.