Amid Delhi trade fair hubbub, a thief strikes. His target? 50-million-year-old fossil

To nab the artifact thief, constabulary said investigators had to reappraisal footage from implicit 100 CCTV cameras successful and astir the scene, piecing unneurotic the movements of the suspect.

Through method analysis, they identified the accused arsenic Manoj Kumar Mishra, a 49-year-old nonmigratory of Sector 22 successful Noida. “During questioning, Mishra admitted to the theft and the fossil was recovered from his possession. A summons dated November 21 that helium utilized for introduction into IITF-2024 was besides seized from his possession,” said DCP, IITF, Sumit Kumar Jha.

Mishra, an worker of a edifice successful Noida, is simply a regular visitant to the commercialized just and has a beardown involvement successful creation and collectibles. “He intended to merchantability the fossil for a important price,” added DCP Jha. Mishra was booked nether BNS conception 303 (theft).

Dr Praveer Pankaj, who had registered the FIR for the missing mollusc, said: “We had brought the fossil from our Jaipur office… it had been excavated from the Jaisalmer country and we’d hoped to showcase it astatine the IITF to students and communal radical for acquisition purposes.”

“The fossil is astir 5.6 to 4.1 crore years old… these kinds of fossils are mostly utilized for delineating the paleoenvironment it belonged to, which means we usage the fossil to spot what benignant of situation existed successful the country truthful galore years ago,” explained Dr. Pankaj, adding, “From this peculiar fossil, we could recognize that erstwhile upon a time, Jaisalmer utilized to beryllium a shallow marine situation oregon a coastal area.”

The recovered artifact, weighing 1 kg and measuring 14 cm successful length, 10 cm successful width, and 12 cm successful height, was handed backmost to the GSI. The probe is ongoing to ascertain whether immoderate accomplices oregon imaginable buyers were involved, said police.