A former part-time employee of Visva-Bharati University has been arrested for the theft of Rabindranath Tagore's memorabilia after his fingerprints matched those found at the site of crime in the Rabindra Bhavan in Santiniketan.

Pradeep Bauri, 27, former contract gardener at the university, was detained from neighbouring Bolpur area on March 29 along with some other suspects and investigations showed his finger and palm prints matched with those found around the place from where Tagore's Nobel medal and other memorabilia were stolen more than a week ago, CID Additional DG R K Mahanti told reporters here yesterday.

Bauri has been handed over to CBI for further investigation, he said.

Mahanti said though Bauri confessed his crime initially and was beginning to divulge details about his aides, he retracted his statement after getting a legal opinion from his counsels.