Court acquits Bengaluru man in Nilgiri Library rare book theft case

A Bengaluru resident, arrested in December 2023 by the Ooty Town police for allegedly stealing a rare book from the Nilgiri Library, has been acquitted by the judicial magistrate court in Udhagamandalam.

The case dates back to October 2023, when office-bearers of the 160-year-old library conducted a stocktake of books after the Ooty Literature Fest. They discovered that two century-old volumes — The Pirates of Malabar and An Englishwoman in India Two Hundred Years Ago by Colonel John Biddulph — were missing.

A complaint was lodged with the Nilgiris district police, who launched an investigation. Weeks later, police received a tip-off that one of the books was being offered for sale on Instagram. Using cyber cell resources, officers traced the mobile phone user's details to the accused, identified as Debnath. He was arrested, brought to the Nilgiris, and remanded in judicial custody.

The trial commenced in 2024 at the judicial magistrate court in Udhagamandalam. On September 30, 2025, Judge D. Ravi acquitted the accused, citing a lack of evidence in the case.