Santiniketan: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today (Apr 2, 2004) regretted that the priceless memorabilia of Rabindranath Tagore were not preserved in the museum in the manner they should have been and directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to expedite the investigation for recovering the stolen items.

"It is a matter of regret and concern that the Nobel medal and other memorabilia have been stolen and even eight days after, they could not be recovered," the Prime Minister, also the acharya (chancellor) of Visva-Bharati University, told a press conference in Santiniketan after visiting the museum, which was burgled on March 25.

Expressing regret that these priceless objects in the museum had not been kept in the manner they should have been preserved, he said that efforts were on to trace the stolen items and "I hope that the efforts will bear fruit. The administration should use all its might to trace the stolen items."

Vajpayee said, "It is a matter of prestige of the country. It is no ordinary crime. Those who stole the objects also did not consider it as an ordinary crime."

He expressed hope that such crime would not recur in future and steps would be taken to prevent such incidents.

The Prime Minister who held a marathon meeting with vice chancellor Sujit Basu and other senior officials during his short visit said that they assured him of arranging foolproof security measures.