INDIAN PRINCE’S LOSS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23082, 7 January 1937, Page 13

INDIAN PRINCE’S LOSS

Jewellery valued at nearly £lo£oo belonging to Prince Bishnu, of Nepal, was stolen recently by a cat burglar, who climbed a stackpipe at the rear of the Prince’s house in Redmgton road, Hampstead. Among the stolen jewellery was a pearl necklace valued at £BOOO (says the Daily Telegraph). The Prince left London for India on November 10, and the Princess was dining alone in the house when the burglary occurred, between 8 and 9.3 U. It was she who discovered the theft when she went to her room after dinner. Several bedrooms had been ransacked, and she at once called her maid and other servants, Scotland Yard was informed by telephone, and detectives immediately began mvestiburglary was carried out under the cover of fog by a man who. the police believe, must have been an expert who had carefully reconnoitred the situation. . It is thought that he gained access to the grounds at the rear of the house by way of a narrow path running beside the building. Once in the garden, he scaled a stackpipe about 30ft long and entered through a window. The method of his entry could be detected by scratches on the wall. The house is fitted with burglar alarms. Scotland Yard experts were makmc an exhaustive search for traces of finger-prints on a dressing table and a jewel case, which was forced A member of the household staff staled: “The window was open and there were scratches on the window sill The whole place was turned upside down. Yet none of us heard the slightest suspicious sound. We are cabling to the Prince to inform him of the affair." It is one of the largest London burglaries of recent years. Prince Bishnu (Major-general Bishnu Shumshere. of Nepal) is a son of the late Maharajah, who died in 1929. and ,a cousin of the Nepalese Minister in London. Sir Bahadur Shumshere Jung. Nepal, the home of the famous Gurkhas is an independent State under British protection. Its Maharajah is one of the wealthiest and most absolute rulers in the world. Prince Bishnu’s father. Sir Chandra Shumshere. was Maharajah for 28 vears. He introduced sweeping reforms, including the abolition of slavery and suttee.