Nobel Peace Prize 2014
Child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi shared the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with Pakistani child activist Malala Yousafzai Getty Images

A replica of the Nobel Peace Prize medal given to Indian social activist Kailash Satyarthi has been stolen after burglars broke into his house in a posh area of the capital New Delhi.

According to local media reports, the theft was discovered by the staff of the well-known child rights activist. The 63-year-old is currently attending the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in the US.

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Satyarthi's Nobel certificate and other gifts are also reportedly missing after the theft. No one was believed to have been at his residence when the incident took place.

"The lock of my house was broken and my certificate and a replica medal were taken along with a few other things. We are still assessing what is missing," Satyarthi told the BBC.

Delhi police have launched an investigation and begun a manhunt for the suspects, The Times of India reported.

"All scrap dealers and local criminals from the area have been detained," a senior police officer said. He added: "Fingerprints and other evidences have also been recorded from the spot."

Satyarthi won the peace prize in 2014 for his active campaigns against child labour and child trafficking in India. He gave up his career as an electrical engineer in 1980 to fight for the rights of children. He has led several peaceful protests across the country to draw attention to the plight of exploited children.

He shared his prize with Pakistan's child education activist Malala Yousafzai, who was chosen for her work on female education.

Satyarthi dedicated his medal to the country in 2015. The medal has been on display at the presidential palace museum since then.

Satyarthi is reportedly not the first Indian Nobel laureate to have lost his prestigious prize. Prior to him, Rabindranath Tagore's 1913 Nobel Prize medal for literature and the certificate were stolen in 2004 from a museum of Visva Bharati University he founded in the eastern state of West Bengal. Tagore was a legendary poet and composer well-known for penning the Indian national anthem. The valuables were never recovered.