New Delhi: The gold medal Indian hockey player MM Somaya won at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, along with three other international medals and valuables, was stolen from his home in Indiranagar, Bengaluru. The former India hockey captain was away from the city at the time.
“We did not have too many valuables at home,” Somaya said about the theft, adding that he had brought the four medals to Bengaluru only two months ago. “We still have a home (in Kodagu, Karnataka), and all my medals were there and many of them still are. But I brought these 4 down because I thought they should be closer to me.”
The neighbourhood they now live in is quiet and only a few people in the locality know him as a renowned hockey player.
According to the FIR registered at Indiranagar police station under Sections 331(4) and 305 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, two unidentified men entered the house at about 2:34 am on 28 October. A neighbour noticed the front door open around 7:15 am and alerted the family. CCTV footage from nearby buildings showed one man wearing a blue-checked shirt and another in a red shirt.
Somaya and his family had left for his home in Kodagu three days before the theft. The FIR says the thieves broke the door lock and ransacked the house, taking items from the ground and first floors.
Besides the Moscow gold, the thieves took a silver medal from the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games, a bronze from the 1986 Seoul Asian Games, and a bronze from the 1982 Amsterdam Champions Trophy. The FIR lists these as having no estimated value.
Somaya noted that the Moscow medal is among his most prized possessions.
“It’s definitely one of my prized possessions, and initially I was emotionally disturbed.” Somaya said. “But then now you have to look at it rationally and try to chase it as best you can. So I have decided to not dwell on it, though I feel down emotionally.”
Other items include two silver cups weighing 144 grams in all, a 10-gram gold bangle, six silver spoons, a silver pot, an 8-gram gold coin and Rs 30,000 in cash. The police, in the FIR, valued the total property at Rs 3,53,000.
According to Somaya, a niece who lives nearby called the police after the neighbour’s alert. The family believes the burglars were inside between about 2:30 am and 4:30 am. It was early afternoon by the time he returned to Bengaluru with his wife, and the FIR was registered at 6:05 pm.
At the police’s request, he told almost no one about the theft for nearly a week. The FIR was then uploaded to the police website, where a journalist spotted it and the news spread.
“It wouldn’t be hidden anywhere,” he said. “So I started sharing details about it publicly too.”
He then wrote to senior officials about his medals. The area’s ACP and DCP visited his home, and assured him that five teams are working on the case.
Police told him the burglars hardly left any fingerprints because they were wearing gloves. Somaya said the men arrived on a two-wheeler that investigators believe was stolen.
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MM Somaya
Maneyapanda Muthanna Somaya, 67, was born in Madikeri, Kodagu. He studied at St. Mary’s School and St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai.
He played as a defensive midfielder and was a part of the Indian squad that beat Spain 4-3 in the 1980 Moscow Olympic final. It was India’s eighth Olympic hockey gold and remains the country’s last in the men’s hockey events.
He went on to play at the 1984 Los Angeles Games and captained India at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He also played two World Cups, Asian Games, Asia Cups and Champions Trophy tournaments. He received the Arjuna Award in 1985.
After his hockey career ended he worked with Bharat Petroleum for more than three decades and retired in 2017 as executive director of its aviation fuels and lubricants businesses. The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board gave him a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.
Somaya said he is trying to help the police with whatever information he has.
“The police are hopeful and I am trying to look at it positively,” he said.
(Edited by Janaki Pande)