The Chandigarh police have arrested two junk dealers who had allegedly stolen 15 heritage chairs and a table designed by Le Corbusier from the storeroom of the Government College of Arts, Sector 10, on the intervening night of January 18 and 19. The police have recovered 10 chairs from their possession. The vehicle used in the crime — Tata Ace — five chairs and the table are yet to be recovered.

The accused have been identified as 26-year-old Sunil Kumar, a resident of Sector 25 and 38-year-old Faquir Chand of Kansal. The police are yet to arrest two women, identified as Sweety and Shakila of Sector 25, and Anil and Rajesh, who assisted the accused in the crime. The police said Faquir masterminded the theft as he used to participate in furniture auctions in Punjab and Haryana.

The police said Sweety and Shakila, both rag pickers, used to recce the area before committed the theft and then used to call other gang members to lift the booty. Both Sunil and Faquir are school dropouts and are working as junk dealers. Faquir Chand also buys all types of furniture from auctions.

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Faquir told the police that whenever he participated in auctions, there were a number queries about the heritage furniture. He also used to get calls from Mumbai about the availability of heritage furniture. The police said they were verifying the call details to trace the Mumbai link in the smuggling of heritage furniture.