New Delhi, August 24: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee tonight assured Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee that he will speak to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue of continuing CBI probe into the theft of Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel medallion from Vishwa Bharati University.
“Pranab-da has assured me that he will definitely talk to the Prime Minister on the issue”, Mamata told media persons after a meeting with Mukherjee here, close on the heels of CBI conveying to the University authorities that it was closing the investigation into the theft more than five years ago.
Mamata said CBI had closed the probe in the past too but resumed it following an intervention by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The Trinamool Congress chief said the Prime Minister should step in again to ensure the probe goes on.
“When I raised the issue with Pranab-da, he assured me that he would definitely talk to the Prime Minister on the subject”, Mamata said.
The CBI in its letter to Vishwa Bharati University Registrar Manimukut Mitra said it is no longer pursuing its investigation into the theft of the medallion and other memorabilia from the Rabindra Bhavan at Santiniketan on March 25, 2004.
After three years of fruitless probe, CBI had closed the case on August 30, 2007 and reopened it on September 18, 2008.
—Agencies