Kolkata: In the first admission of the possibility of a "sabotage theory" behind the Tagore Nobel medal heist, Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor Sujit Basu today (Apr 21, 2004) said he had been warned by confidantes a few days ahead of the theft that vested interests in the university were "hatching a conspiracy" to destabilise his position.

"It was in the air that a group of vested interests would do something really earthshaking around the end of March to put me in a tight spot. But none of us imagined in our wildest dreams that someone could think of stealing national property to get even with the vice-chancellor," Basu told reporters on the sidelines of a cassette release function in Kolkata today.

Pointing out that the environment of Rabindranath Tagore's abode of peace was being vitiated by "unwanted elements" at all levels of h 1.17chy, he said though Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was yet to ascertain the hand of an insider in the crime, it would be "really unfortunate" if someone from the university was found guilty of the crime.

"A very small group of people working for petty gains is spoiling the entire environment of the university, which once stood on the pillars of Rabindranath's lofty ideals. But I have not bowed to pressures posed by this group," Basu said.

On the CBI investigations, he said regular meetings with the officials had led him to believe that the Nobel medal and other artefacts, stolen on March 25 from the Uttarayan complex, would be found very soon.