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Burglars steal 120 gold medals from ex-swimming champion Bula Chowdhury’s Hooghly house
Bula Chowdhury’s Hooghly house was also ransacked in March 2015. Police had posted guards outside the house at the time but withdrew them during the Covid pandemic
KOLKATA: Burglars on Friday struck at the Hooghly house of former national swimming champion Bula Chowdhury for the second time in a decade, and stole about 120 gold medals and a replica of the Padma Shri medal awarded to her.
Chowdhury, who lives in south Kolkata, said she was informed about the theft by a neighbour in Hindmotor in West Bengal’s Hooghly district, who noticed that the lock on one of the doors had been broken open. Chowdhury and her family rushed to Hooghly.
Police said a case has been registered on Chowdhury’s complaint.
“I have lost more than 150 medals, including 120 gold medals, which I won both at various national and international championships during my lifetime. The list includes 10 gold medals I won at the SAF Games,” Chowdhury told reporters. The South Asian Games were previously known as the South Asian Federation Games, or SAF Games.
“The Arjuna Award and the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Sports Award, which were also kept in the house, are still there. They were not stolen,” she said.
But the replica of the Padma Shri medal, which is given to recipients along with the original medal, was also stolen, she said. Chowdhury was awarded the country’s third highest civilian award in 2008.
“I am totally shattered. If the authorities can’t protect these, then what is the use of winning them,” she said about the loss of the gold medals.
To be sure, Chowdhury’s house was also targeted by burglars in March 2015 too. The local police had posted guards outside the house following this theft but they were withdrawn during the Covid pandemic in 2021. She and her family had been coming to the house every two to three months.
“We have registered a case. Investigation is going on,” said an officer of Uttarpara police station.
Chowdhury also contested elections from Nandanpur assembly seat on a CPM ticket in 2006 and represented the seat in the West Bengal assembly till 2011 when the seat in the Paschim Medinipur district ceased to exist following delimitation.
