1500 ‘stolen books’ recovered from library of Jauhar University
Close to 1500 rare books, which were stolen from the Raza Oriental College, were recovered from the library of Jauhar Ali University (JAU), Rampur on Tuesday, police said.
The books were recovered in a surprise raid conducted in the library of the university by a police team. Police arrested four persons who were reportedly trying to remove the books from the library.
Circle officer Ganj area Vidya Kishore said, “The raid was conducted on an intelligence input that the books are kept at Mumtaz library of the varsity and efforts are being made to shift them to other place. When we reached the library we found that some persons were packing the books in cartons. We have arrested them for this.”
However, the CO declining to reveal the names of arrested persons. “Police have also declined to confirm if the accused were employees of Jauhar University,” he said.
Investigation in the matter began on June 16, after the principal of Raza Oriental College in Rampur, Zubair Khan, lodged an FIR of theft at Ganj police station. In the FIR, the principal had alleged that over 9000 books were stolen from the school. Zubair further alleged that the books were taken to the library in Jauhar University.
“We were pursuing the case since last month and received a tip regarding it on Tuesday and conducted the raid. We are also trying to trace the remaining books and further action in the case is underway,” said the CO.
Jauhar University has been in the news since senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, who is also the chancellor of the university, was elected as Member of Parliament from Rampur.
District administration had ordered the shifting of the main gate of the university and cancelled lease of 7.13 hectare of land of the university recently.
Jauhar University officials or Azam Khan could not be reached for a comment.