Kochi, Nov 2 — In a serious security lapse, 124 articles, including a Rado wristwatch, kept as case properties, have gone missing from the district court in Kerala's Ernakulam.
The missing articles were properties seized in various criminal cases and kept under the custody of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II.
The police have registered a case following a complaint lodged by the Junior Superintendent of the court.
The theft came to light after the articles kept in the court's custody were found missing.
The missing properties relate to cases registered and handled between 2016 and 2026.
They include 124 items, with the Rado watch among the articles reported stolen.
The police have begun an investigation into the incident.
The immediate task before the investigators is to establish when the articles went missing and how they were removed from the court's custody.
The theft has raised serious questions about the safety of material evidence kept in court premises.
Case properties are articles seized by the police during investigations and produced before courts as evidence.
They are required to be preserved until the completion of the legal proceedings and dealt with in accordance with court orders.
Such articles can be important in establishing the facts of a criminal case.
Their disappearance could also create complications when courts require them for examination or production during trial.
The police are expected to examine the records relating to the missing articles and the circumstances under which they were kept in the court.
The investigation will also have to establish whether the theft took place in one instance or over a period of time.
The incident assumes significance as the missing articles were not ordinary belongings but properties connected with criminal cases pending or dealt with by the court.
Further details, including the exact nature and value of all the missing articles and the period during which the theft took place, are awaited.