Mahatma Gandhi

Nagpur, June 13 (PTI): The iconic round glasses of Mahatma Gandhi have vanished from a locked display case at Sevagram Ashram in Wardha, leading authorities to suspect theft.

Today, ashram residents who clean the articles in a museum inside Sevagram noticed that the glasses were not there among the other belongings of Gandhiji.

Sevagram was established by Gandhiji in 1936 and he stayed there for several years. He left the ashram in 1946 to quell riots across the country. The Quit India resolution was also passed in Sevagram in July 1942.

The ashram, 75km from Nagpur, gets around 3 lakh visitors annually. It will celebrate its platinum jubilee on June 15-16.

Aakash Lokhande, the manager of Sevagram, said the spectacles may have been stolen some time back but came to light only today when the cleaners could not find the glasses in the display case.

The other articles — among them a pen stand and a bathroom brush — were there, Lokhande said. “We have not lodged a complaint with police so far, but Wardha police have visited the ashram,” he said.

The spectacles had been donated to the ashram by Gandhiji’s daughter-in-law Nirmalaben, who lived at Sevagram till her death.

Wardha superintendent of police S.M. Waghmare said he had visited the ashram in the morning and inspected the area. “I am still waiting for a formal complaint from the ashram so that we can investigate the matter,” he said.

By late evening, ashram authorities were in the process of lodging a formal complaint, sources said.

Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, however, has ordered a probe already.