# Two arrested for stealing Chandigarh heritage manhole covers worth ₹17 lakh each 2026-11-12T06:31:57+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets Chandigarh police arrested two men on Tuesday, 10 November, for stealing four heritage cast-iron manhole covers designed by Le Corbusier from Sector 45-C. The accused were caught as they tried to break the 80-kg covers with a pickaxe in a Sector 46 forest. Police recovered the covers and a stolen scooter. The suspects, Raja Ram, 24, of Mohali, and Mukesh, 32, of Chandigarh, were initially treated by passersby as routine municipal workers. The theft came to light when Sector 46 councillor Gurpreet Singh Gabi reported more than seven missing covers. Hindustan Times reports the case was registered on 7 November based on a complaint by Davinder Singh, president of the block welfare association, Sector 45-C. Each cover can fetch between ₹11 lakh and ₹17 lakh at international auctions, a value the suspects were apparently unaware of. Police have not ruled out an organised trafficking network, as more than eight covers have been stolen from the area. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Times of India leads with the scrap-value angle and the suspects' unawareness of the heritage worth, framing the crime as a tragic irony. Hindustan Times leads by confirming the covers as Le Corbusier designs, names a formal complaint date, and omits the auction price and the organised-network hint. Both sources agree on the key facts: two men caught, four covers recovered, theft in Sector 45. The coverage is uniform neutral reporting, the difference is only in which detail each chose to front. The open police investigation into a possible trafficking network remains the concrete point to watch. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - timesofindia.indiatimes.com (neutral report) led with scrap value and suspects' unawareness, framed as irony - hindustantimes.com (neutral report) led with Le Corbusier design confirmation and complaint details This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Tags: Chandigarh police, heritage manhole covers, Le Corbusier, Mukesh Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/two-arrested-for-stealing-chandigarh-heritage-manhole-covers-worth-rs17-lakh-each/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/two-arrested-for-stealing-chandigarh-heritage-manhole-covers-worth-rs17-lakh-each/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/