Five silver shehnais and other souvenirs belonging to Ustad Bismillah Khan go missing
Forensic experts and a police dog squad visited the home of the Bharat Ratna recipient's son Kazim Hussain in Varanasi after he filed an FIR.
Late maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan’s son Kazim Hussain has filed a first information report with the Varanasi Police after five silver shehnais and other souvenirs and gifts belonging to the Bharat Ratna recepient went missing from Hussain’s residence. The theft came to light after Hussain, who had gone to his ancestral home Uttar Pradesh’s Hadha Sarai area on November 30, found the lock of the main door broken and the valuables gone when he returned home on Sunday night, reported Hindustan Times.
Senior Superintendent of Police Nitin Tiwari told the daily that the police have initiated an investigation and a team of forensic experts and a dog squad have visited the house in Dalmandi area of the city. Hussain has also informed MLC Shatrudra Prakash about the incident.
The five shehnais were gifted to Khan by former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Congress leader Kapil Sibal and a former pupil. “One of these shehnais was very special, which my father used to play on the fifth and seventh days of Muharram,” Hussain told Hindustan Times. Hussain had shifted these items from his ancestral home to his current house recently.
In 2009, Khan’s youngest son Nazim Hussain had demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation after he accused “family insiders” of misplacing one of the maestro’s shehnais. However, the district magistrate and the SSP had said there was no such case filed, reported The Financial Express.