Padm Shri medal found near statue of Tiruvalluvar

The members of Tamil Sangham, who found the medal have handed it over to City Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari.

When contacted, public relation officer of Bangalore Police, V Ramaiah, said that the unveiling ceremony went off peacefully and nobody threw anything at the venue. He said that many scholars, including Padma Shri awardees, had come to the function and one of them might have lost the medal.  "Most probably somebody has lost it. You would have seen that there was a huge crowd at the venue. The medal would have slipped from someone's hand, it appears," said Ramaiah.

But when pointed out that awardees generally do not bring such a proud possession to a crowded place, he could not give a satisfactory answer. So far no one has claimed the medal nor a complaint lodged.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner has appealed to the person who has lost the medal to collect it from his office. The problem with the police is that as the year is not engraved on that medal, it has become difficult to identify the recipient of the award on that year.

While the unveiling of Tiruvalluvar's statue has heralded a new era in the relations between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, it had invited protests by pro-Kannada organisations.