Suri (West Bengal): Thieves last night (May 13, 2004) tried once again to break into the Rabindra Bhavan in Santiniketan from where the Nobel medal and other priceless memorabilia of the Rabindranath Tagore were stolen on March 25.

The security guards on duty chased the thieves, but failed to catch hold of any of them, the police said today.

Officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Visva-Bharati university and police visited the Uttarayan complex, where the museum is housed, at midnight immediately after being informed. A bamboo was found lying on the spot from where the attempt was made.

The vice-chancellor of the university, Sujit Kumar Basu, said policemen, who were posted after the Nobel heist, were withdrawn from the Uttarayan complex owing to the Lok Sabha election.

Basu said he had asked for more personnel from the State police for deployment.