Raja Ravi Varma’s Painting Stolen

A famous original painting by Raja Ravi Varma was stolen from a family collection in Kerala. Despite the media intervention, the state police take a callous approach towards the incident. AC Correspondent reports from Kerala.

Balakrishnan Nair’s family in Cherpulassery, Palghat District, Kerala still reels under the shock of the notorious Raja Ravi Varma painting theft from its ancestral collection of art works. An original painting by Raja Ravi Varma, carrying the signature of the artist, that depicts the sage Viswamitra disowning the celestial nymph Menaka and her daughter sired by him was stolen on 26th September 2007 from M.V.Balakrishnan Nair’s residence. Despite the intervention of the media, the state police is in a hurry to close the investigation, alleged the Nair family.

As per the family sources, the theft was conducted in an organized fashion. Three people posing as Enforcement Directorate officials arrived at Nair’s residence around 7 pm and demanded the painting. “They showed their identity cards and demanded the painting. They forcefully took it away and told my father that we should produce legal documents of possession for retrieving it,” said Nair’s son Gopalakrishnan.

Once the news came out, some of the ministers and officials took great interest to retrieve the painting. “However, the investigating officials were seemed to be in a different mood. They arrested three people and two of them got bail from the court. And nothing substantial was done in terms of investigation,” Gopalakrishnan told artconcerns.com. To add insult to injury, the police claimed that they recovered the stolen painting from the culprits and asked Nair to take it back. “To our shock, what the police produced before us was a Sivakasi copy of the same painting.” Nair family refused to take back the painting and currently the ‘print’ is under magisterial custody.

Gopalakrishnan says that the state police are in a hurry to close the investigation files. They insist that the ‘print’ recovered from the culprits is the ‘original’ which has been stolen. While the culprits and the network that worked behind the theft move free in the society, the Nair family is caught in a legal mess, proving the ‘print’ a print.

The original painting came to Nair’s family several decades back. On special occasions the painting used to be taken out of the residence and exhibited for public viewing. “We used to lend this painting to local schools for their annual functions. However, when we realized that it needed preservation we stopped lending it. Since then it was kept safe within our home,” said Gopalakrishnan.

An inter-state mafia involved in the smuggling of archeological materials and heritage treasures is believed to be behind this theft. A few people knew that the painting was in Nair’s family and the family is ready to identify them. “Somehow the police do not want to take up the investigation further and we feel there is a foul play in this,” alleged Gopalakrishnan. He requested that those who are in the art market should be aware of this incident and if the painting comes to them, they should immediately contact the law enforcing authorities.