3 September 2018. Citizens of India woke up to the sensational news of a multimillion-dollar theft in the Nizam's Museum, Hyderabad. The theft of a diamond-studded, intricately designed
gold box and other artefacts speckled with emeralds and rubies caused a national and international
sensation. This was no ordinary burglary. It was an assault on the heritage and culture of the people
of Hyderabad and India.
Prince Muffakham Jah of Hyderabad, who was in London at that time, personally requested the
Commissioner of Police, Mr Anjani Kumar, to investigate the case on priority. Hundreds of police
officers were pressed into action to recover the stolen objets d'art. Unfortunately for them, the thieves
had been smart and left little evidence behind them. Most clues that the police uncovered during
the investigation led to more confusion rather than any conclusion.
The Commissioner personally led an elite team to investigate this theft and recover the items. He knew that recovering the stolen assets would be a challenging proposition, given that, historically, hardly any items stolen from museums across the world had ever been recovered. The Hyderabad Heist is the story of how the Hyderabad Police worked diligently, made the most out of the little evidenc available, and raced against time to recover the artifacts before these could be smuggled abroad and be lost forever.