Theft at film chamber remains unsolved

The theft of 19 silver mementos from the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) has snowballed into a major controversy as the police suspended their investigation due to lack of suspects. Incidentally, the police informed the KFCC about the decision on the day a new administrative body took over the film chamber. A controversy has been triggered as the information was not discussed in the subsequent meeting.Now, a group of KFCC members are up in arms over the issue.
Expressing his anger, film distributor ‘Mars’ Suresh said, “The police seem to be happy to sweep everything under carpet.” He blamed the police for not investigating adequately. “Since the complaint was lodged in February this year, the police have not inquired with anyone, let alone interrogated them.” He suspects some people within the organisation pulled strings to hush up the incident. “Some invisible hands are at work to hush up the matter,” he added.
However, the new president of the KFCC, H D Gangaraju, said, “We received the information that police have suspended the investigation. Many of us were attending the film festival in Goa in the last few days. We are yet to decide the next legal step after this.”
There is a possibility that the mementos are not stolen after all. A film chamber functionary said, “Not everyone was felicitated on stage during the event. Some were missed and probably some of them picked up the mementos from the chamber as a matter of right rather than stealing it. If the police investigate, they will find not one suspect but 19 of them and some could be big names.”
To mark the 75th anniversary of Kannada cinema, KFCC organised Amrutha Mahotsava in 2009. Out of over 500 mementos made to felicitate film stars, 50 were left. In 2012, 19 of these were found stolen. The total cost of stolen mementos is approximately Rs 2.5 lakh.