A theft was reported at the state-level philatelic exhibition being held at Science City over the last four days.

Items from two collections being exhibited in the competitive section were sneaked out of frames with glass covers during the visiting hours. The results of the competition were declared on Monday and both collections targeted won gold medals.

The exhibition, organised by the West Bengal circle of India Post, taking place after a gap of six years, had 401 frames on display, several of which featured rare, high-value items on a variety of themes. The incident has been reported to the nearby Pragati Maidan police station and an investigation has been launched, an officer said.

The theft is believed to have taken place soon after the jury took the round around mid-day on Sunday. “I was at lunch elsewhere when I got a call from someone close to me that one exhibit was missing from my collection on Colonial Calcutta, spread over five frames. It was the first item on my first page — a Calcutta greetings picture postcard with a drop-down photo. On reaching, I realised that another item was gone. Its absence was not apparent from a distance as I had affixed the postcard over its image of the same size,” said Raunak Dutta, a collector.

The other missing exhibit is from the collection of Ayushman Sinha on kingfishers. “There is a gap between the glass cover edge and the frame. The thief made use of the relatively low visitor presence during lunchtime,” said Rajesh Kumar Sinha, Ayushman’s father, who exhibited as well at the show.

“It is a disappointing incident amid a joyous and
successful event. The theft seems to have been meticulously planned. We have lodged a diary and shared the CCTV footage with the police. We want a thorough probe,” Riju Ganguly, postmaster general, south Bengal, who was the chairperson of the exhibition committee, told Metro.

Dutta said he had seen the footage. “For close to an hour around that time of the theft, not a single security guard could be spotted. The culprit came near my frame once and moved away as there was company. He returned when the vicinity was clear. The frame was not locked,” he said.

Rajesh has not informed his son, who is studying out of town, about either the theft or his gold medal win. “We have been exhibiting in India and abroad, and have never faced this situation,” he said. An entire page with a postcard and eight stamps from the collection was stolen.

Ganguly assured that the exhibits were insured and due process would be followed once the police investigation was over. But monetary compensation is the last thing on the aggrieved collectors’ minds.

“Both the stolen items date back to the early 20th century. The thief understands their value. I have not spotted another specimen of that drop-down photo in 15 years. My Minto fete cancellation on a stamp of the Ochterlony monument is very rare too. It marked a fete held to introduce the wife of Lord Minto in local society when she came to India. The fete had started at the foot of the monument,” Dutta said.

The announcement of the win has not sunk in for him. “I was confident about the quality of my collection, so the gold medal was not a surprise. I am too numb with shock to feel any joy,” said Dutta.

Bongopex ended on Monday with a special cover released on Magician PC
Sorcar.