A Sikh man jailed for the murder of an 18-year-old student in Southampton has previously been reported to police over the alleged theft of a ceremonial religious blade, the Daily Mail reports.Vikram Digva, 23, was jailed for life after being found guilty of murdering 18-year-old Henry Novak with an eight-inch saber in Southampton city center in December 2025.Members of Southampton’s Sikh community contacted police over the alleged theft of a ceremonial Shastar blade worth approximately £1,000 in July 2023.The blades were reportedly taken from Gurdwara Khalsa Darbar in Southampton, where Digwa and his brother were teaching Gatka, a traditional Sikh martial art involving the display of weapons.A source at the gurudwara said Digva was dismissed as a gatka instructor in August 2023 and the alleged theft was later reported to the police.“We sacked him as a Gatka teacher in August 2023 and then I reported him to the police for stealing Shastra worth about £1,000, which was bought with community money,” the source told the Daily Mail.No charges were filed in connection with the alleged incident.Digwa’s mother Kiran Kaur, 53, was also convicted of assisting an offender after prosecutors said she removed the murder weapon from the scene of the stabbing.Sentencing Degua to life in prison, Judge William Mousley Casey told the defendant he had “brought shame to your family and your religion”.The judge also said he was satisfied that Henry Novak “did not say anything racist” during the encounter and rejected a significant portion of DeGava’s account of the events leading up to the fatal stabbing.