Burglars strike ace swimmer Bula’s Hooghly home for 4th time in 11 yrs
Times of India | 4 January 2026
Kolkata/Hindmotor: For the fourth time in a decade, burglars struck swimmer Bula Chowdhury's residence at her native town, Hindmotor in Hooghly district. Chowdhury, the first woman to swim across seven seas in five continents, discovered the break-in on Saturday.
The Padma Shri and Arjuna awardee was not present at the time of the incident. Police are investigating the break-in.
Chowdhury, who now lives near Acropolis Mall in Kasba, Kolkata, was left speechless when she entered her 2-storeyed house at Debaipukur Khudiram Udyan near Hindmotor station. Various mementoes that were presented to her lay scattered in the drawing room, furniture, including almirahs were open and overturned in the bedrooms, and clothes were strewn all around. The entire house, including the kitchen, was completely ransacked. Such was the state of the house that Chowdhury was unable to comprehend what was stolen.
The break-in happened despite police being posted outside the house following the theft of her medals in Aug 2025. "It seemed as though a cyclone barrelled through the house. My husband and I were initially baffled about how this happened as the door was locked and windows were shut. It was only later that we discovered that the wooden shutters in one window were open and the grille was removed," Chowdhury said. While thefts happened at her Hind Motor home twice in 2014, 7 months apart, the last theft happened in Aug 2025. Chowdhury's husband, Sanjib Chakraborty, and son, Sarbajit, had last visited the residence one-and-a-half months back.
"In the first theft, gold ornaments were stolen from the house. They were never recovered. In the next theft, an LED TV, mementoes, and some medals were stolen. The police claimed they recovered the TV, but the one they showed did not belong to me. In the 3rd theft, many medals, all taps, and utensils from the puja room were stolen. Police recovered the medals. This time, I came to take some winter clothes," a distraught Chowdhury told TOI. Chandannagar Police Commissionerate's Serampore DCP Arnab Ghosh said after the last robbery, police recovered 308 medals in two phases. He said Bula was requested to take all the medals away from the house and, accordingly, nothing was left in the house.