Hyderabad, May 04: The commissioner of police, Mr A.K. Khan, said that a total of five people were involved in stealing jewellery belonging to the Nizams from Salar Jung Museum.
Apart from Hasan Ali, the commissioner named Ali’s aide, Kashinath Tapuriah (also in judicial custody at present), Nasir Baig, Philip Anandaraj, who helped Ali open a Swiss account, and city-based jeweller Ram Bharoz Gupta of Basheerbagh.
On Tuesday, the Central Crime Station had registered a case against Hasan Ali Khan and others for stealing Nizam’s jewellery and selling them for around Rs 50 lakh. According to his confession to the Enforcement Directorate, Hasan had made Rs 40 lakh to Rs 50 lakh in 1995 by selling a few of the Nizams’ jewels. The manager and custodian of Nizams’ jewellery, Nasir Baig, was named for allegedly aiding the theft.
The case was booked under Sections 406 IPC (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 379 (theft), 411(receiving stolen property), 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) read with Section 25 of Antiques and Art Treasures Act as per the complaint lodged by Mr Jayakrishna K. Naidu, assistant director of the directorate of enforcement of Mumbai Zonal Office.
“Hasan had close links with Nasir Baig and other officials and staff of the Salar Jung Museum, who helped him remove jewels and antiques from the museum. Hasan Ali stated that Nasir Baig held a power of attorney for the Nizam of Hyderabad,” said Mr Naidu.
However, dismissing the episode as gossip, Mr Nawab Ahtheram Ali Khan, a descendent of the Salar Jung family and board member of the Salar Jung Museum, said: “The accused must have fabricated the whole thing to divert the attention of the police. I belong to the family and I am convinced that the security is so tight that not even a pin can go out of the museum without being noticed.”
Mr Ahtheram Ali Khan, said he was sure that nobody by the name of Nasir Baig, ever worked as manager or custodian or in any capacity associated with museum or the Nizam’s family.
“Hasan or any of his so-called associates had never worked in our museum, nor have any antiques, jewellery or anything else ever been stolen from our museum,” added the museum’s director, Dr A. Nagender Reddy.
The deputy keeper, Mr M. Veerender, said: “I have been working here for the last 10 years. Nothing of the sort has ever happened during my tenure.”
In 2002, Kashinath Tapuriah had stayed with Hasan in Zurich. During his stay, Hasan told him that he had lots of rare and valuable jewellery kept in his locker at UBS. Another associate of Hasan, Philip Anandaraj, told Kashinath that Hassan wanted his help to shift the “stuff” to a new locker.
In his statement to the ED on March 31, Hasan had said that he had visited Salar Jung Museum and that he was in touch with members of the royal family who would sell antiques to him.
These he would keep in his house in Hyderabad and resell them at a meagre profit of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000.
“He confessed that he dealt with jewellery gifted to people by the Nizams’ family and had sold antique jewellery to several city jewellers including one Ram Bharoz Gupta, a jewellery shop owner in Basheerbagh,” the ED stated in the complaint. Kashinath, meanwhile has admitted that in 1994, at the Norkhil Hotel in Gangtok, Hasan had showed him pictures of very expensive gold antiques as well as Nizams’ jewellery.
In September-October 2005, Hasan had taken him to Salar Jung Museum and introduced him to Nasir Baig, the manager of the museum, and told him that he could get him any artefact from the museum.
Hasan also took him to the residence of a woman, aged around 35 to 40, who claimed to be of the royal family. Here too, Kashinath was shown several valuable artefacts.
ED said that Hasan’s ex-wife, Ms Mehboob Unnisa Begum, said the associates were identified as his brother-in-law Hyder Ali Khan, Hamiz Raza, Nasir Baig, Arif Nawab, Samina Khan, the wife of Raza Ali Khan, and Kamran.
ED said all the statements have been recorded under Section 50 of the PMLA.
In the complaint, Mr Naidu alleged that they had information and documents from the IT department indicating that there was a balance of over $8 billion in Hasan’s account in the Union Bank of Switzerland.
Mr A.K. Khan said: “We will decide whether to get Hasan and Kashinath here as the investigation progresses. We will record the statement of ED officials first to get more evidence.”
The Mumbai and Patna police are also investigating cases of fraudulent acquisition of multiple passports by Hasan including from the Regional Passport Office in Hyderabad.
Investigations found that Hasan Ali Khan used these passports, acquired with forged documents, for opening foreign bank accounts. The Hyderabad police has registered and investigated many cases against Hasan Ali from 1992 to 1995 under cheating, forgery of valuable security and other sections.
–Agencies