Cooch Behar: A youth claiming to be an "artist" allegedly stole a portrait of Gayatri Devi, princess of the Cooch Behar royal family and the erstwhile queen of Jaipur, after scaling the palace wall here on Friday night.
But luck ran out soon for school dropout Monglu Das, 20, as police tracked him down and the photo on Sunday. "I jumped over the boundary wall of the palace to see what is inside. I found the photo on the verandah and took it away. I am an artist and had planned to make a painting of the portrait," Das said after his arrest.
The police, however, are not ready to buy the theory of Das, a local who claims to have studied till Class VIII. "We have not found anything that substantiates his claim as an artist. It seems he stole the photo as it has antique value and he could make money by selling it," said a police officer.
Saukat Ali, an academic in Cooch Behar and one of those who had seen the former Maharani of Jaipur, found it "interesting" that the youth took away only the portrait and nothing else. "It seems he was enamoured of her beauty," Ali said in a lighter vein.
Gayatri Devi, who was married to Jaipur royal Sawai Man Singh and considered one of the world's most beautiful women, passed away in 2009 at the age of 90.
The portrait was put up on the verandah in front of the Durbar Hall by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which maintains the palace after her demise. "There are several photos of Gayatri Devi. Among those, one was chosen, enlarged and framed to be put up on the verandah," said a source.
Sources said on Saturday night, some ASI employees on duty at the palace found the portrait missing, following which they lodged a police complaint. Two palace employees were quizzed but let off.
Later, the cops got information about Das, raided his home in the town's Natunpally area on Sunday morning and found the youth and the portrait.
"We plan to hold a meeting with the ASI officials and those in the district administration to beef up security around the palace to prevent such incidents," said Cooch Behar SP Bholanath Pandey.
