Kolkata: The Padma Shri award of internationally acclaimed Indian swimmer, also an Arjuna Award winner, Bula Chowdhury, has been stolen from her ancestral residence at Hind-Motor in the Hooghly district of West Bengal on Friday.

Although Choudhury, who was also a former CPI(M) legislator, currently stays in Kasba in South Kolkata, all her awards, trophies, and medals, which she earned during her swimming career, were displayed at her ancestral residence at Hind-Motor.

She used to come to her ancestral residence every week and inspect whether her awards, trophies, and medals were preserved and maintained properly. On Friday, it was noted that her Padma Shri award shield was missing from the place where it was displayed.

Later, it was discovered that some more of her awards, trophies, and medals were also stolen.

Milan Chowdhury, the brother of the champion swimmer who stays at that Hind-Motor residence, said that there were three robbery attempts at the residence earlier.

“Each time, police complaints were registered, and a routine investigation was carried out. However, subsequent robbery attempts did not stop. Even for a brief period, a police picket was also put up there, only to be withdrawn after a certain period,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner of Chandernagore Police Station, Arnab Biswas, under whose jurisdiction Hind-Motor comes, said that a total of 10 medals and shields were stolen. “At first glance, it seemed that all stolen items were gold-made. We have started a thorough investigation into the matter,” Biswas said.

On being informed of the theft, Bula Chowdhury immediately rushed to her Hind-Motor residence from Kolkata.

On reaching her Hind-Motor residence, she broke down into tears and accused the police of not arranging proper security for the residence where so many prestigious awards were on display.

“I earned those medals after a lot of hard work and struggle. Now most of them have been stolen. My question for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is, why could the police not ensure the prevention of that robbery?” Chowdhury added.

A swimmer par excellence, Choudhury started long-distance swimming in 1989 and crossed the English Channel that year. In 1999, she crossed the English Channel again. In August 2004, she set this record by swimming across the Palk Straits from Talaimannar in Sri Lanka to Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu in nearly 14 hours.

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Photo: X handle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

–IANS