No trace of dinosaur fossils stolen from MP museum

The rare fossils of dinosaur eggs stolen from a museum in MP's Dhar district about 18 months ago are yet to be traced. These fossils, which were kept in Ashmadha museum near Mandu, were about six crore years old.

The rare fossils of dinosaur eggs stolen from a museum in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district about 18 months ago are yet to be traced.

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These fossils, which were kept in Ashmadha museum near Mandu, were about six crore years old.

A total of 27 fossilised eggs were kept in the museum and out of it three were allegedly stolen on January 30, 2013, Pithampur's city superintendent of police Vikram Singh said on Thursday.

A case was registered against unidentified persons in this regard, but so far neither the culprits have been identified nor the fossilised eggs recovered, he said.

The museum's security guard was apparently sleeping at the time of the theft after which he was removed from duty, while the museum's in-charge official was suspended on charges of negligence, a district administration official said.

The fossilised eggs were found by a researcher's group - 'Mangal Panchayatan Parishad' - in 2007 in Dhar because of which the place suddenly came in limelight worldwide.

Parishad's researcher Vishal Verma said these fossils belonged to Sauropod family of dinosaurs who were 20-30 feet in height.

These dinosaurs were vegetarian and used to lay eggs in desert areas about six crore years ago, he claimed.