A sword of Tipu Sultan, the legendary ruler of the Princely State of Mysore, and some other valuable antiquities - a gold necklace studded with precious stones, a silver ring fitted with priceless 'neelam' (blue stone), a cigar holder in the form of a musical piece with a lady having wings, etc. - were stolen from Mysore Palace and Government Museum, Mysore in 1985.

 

CBI got specific information that some persons were trying to sell these antiquities to interested buyers. A CBI team posed as prospective buyers, negotiated with the sellers and succeeded in trapping the sellers along with the antiquities at Mysore. As a result, the precious Sword was recovered from the Nagalingaswamy Math in Mysore in December, 1985. The remaining artefacts were recovered from some other places. Four separate chargesheets were filed against the accused persons. In one case, the accused died during the trial and other cases ended in conviction of the accused persons. All these priceless artefacts are now with the National Museum, New Delhi.