All Five of Ustad Bismillah Khan’s Stolen Shehnais Recovered

Four silver shehnais and a silver-plate wooden one were stolen by the late maestro’s grandson, who has been nabbed.

Shehnai maestro, Ustad Bismillah Khan. (Photo: Reuters)

A day after the recovery of a wooden shehnai of Ustad Bismillah Khan and 1kg silver extracted from three silver shehnais which were melted, police recovered his fifth silver shehnai.

Najre Hassan alias Shadab, a grandson of the late Bharat Ratna winner, and two other persons were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the theft of the maestro's five shehnais.

The theft was unearthed by the Varanasi unit of Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) on Tuesday with the arrest of Shadab and two jewellers.

Four silver shehnais and a silver-plate wooden one were stolen from Khan's son Kazim Hussain's home in Varanasi on 4 December.

Also Read: Five of Ustad Bismillah Khan’s Shehnais Stolen From Varanasi

Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force arrested Hassan, local jeweller Shanker Seth and his son Sujit Seth.

The shehnais were recovered in a melted condition from a local jewellery shop in Varanasi, police said.

Kazim's son Najre got the four silver shehnais melted by jewellers Shanker and Sujit Seth, they said.

The stolen <i>shehnai</i>s were sold to the local jewellers for a meagre Rs 17,000 and melted.

Amit Pathak, STF SSP

According to the family, the shehnais were very special to the late musician and were gifted to him by former prime minister PV Narasimha Rao, Kapil Sibal and Lalu Prasad.

(With inputs from PTI)