A George Cross bravery medal, reported stolen from the Himachal Pradesh home of the recipient’s wife seven years ago, has landed in London auction house Dix Noonan Webb (DNW), where it is to go under the hammer on December 2.

The medal was awarded posthumously to Naik Kirpa Ram of the 8th Battalion, 13th Frontier Force Rifles, Indian Army, in 1946 “for most conspicuous gallantry in carrying out hazardous work in a very brave manner,” according to The London Gazette.

On November 12, 1945, Ram, then 28, repulsed a grenade attack and saved fellow soldiers, but lost his life in the explosion. The George Cross, which ranks next to the Victoria Cross, was received by his wife Brahmi Devi, then aged 13, on January 1, 1946. It was presented by Field Marshal Lord Wavell, Viceroy of India, on behalf of King George VI.

Brahmi Devi, who today lives alone on a meagre government pension in Papral village of Bilaspur district, had lodged an FIR with the Bilaspur police in 2002 that the medal had been stolen from her house along with a few other items.

Unable to make any breakthrough, the police closed the case as “untraced” a few months later.

It has emerged now that the same George Cross medal is being auctioned by DNW, which estimates it to be worth £25,000 (about Rs 20 lakh). The auction house, however, says on its website that the Cross “is sold with the recipient’s ‘13 F.F.R.’ cap badge, an original group photograph (the only one known of the recipient), and two original affidavits confirming the passing of legal title of the G.C. from his widow in April 2000”.

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