Man stole priceless' 50 million-yr-old fossil from trade fair, left it on study table; held after 4 days

A 49-year-old man picked up a 50-million-year-old fossil from the India International Trade Fair (IITF) at Bharat Mandapam last week, walked around the exhibition with the lkg relic in his bag for hours as he recced for more valuables and slipped out, a heist that went unnoticed by 2,000 Delhi Police personnel and 1,000 CCTV cameras till Geological Survey of India (GSI) officials spotted a notable absence from their stall.

- Jignasa Sinha

The man, Manoj Kumar Mishra (49), was eventually undone by a UPI transaction he made at the fair. Delhi Police arrested him on Monday from his Noida residence, where they found the fossil, which is likely older than many landmasses and as old as the Himalayan range, kept on a study table.

Experts said the fossil was a gastropod - a class of mollusk animals (snails or slugs) that are characterised by a spirallike design on them. The fossil in question dates back to the eocene epoch (56 million to 33.9 million years ago) of the cenozoic era, confirmed a GSI official.

"The fossil is at least 50 million years old," said the official.

Police said the fossil is 12cm long and 10cm wide and GSI officials confirmed it was recovered during British Rule "from Gujarat or Rajasthan".

The incident took place on November 21 inside GSÏ's stall at IITF. A police officer said the man roamed around with the fossil for between two and four hours inside the fair without being caught.