Kochi, 2 November

As many as 124 case property items, including a Rado watch, have gone missing from the property room of a magistrate court here, police said on Monday.

The incident was reported from the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II on Park Avenue Road in Ernakulam.

Kochi City Central Police have registered an FIR under Section 306 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) based on a complaint lodged by Mery Lini K L, a junior superintendent of the court, they said.

According to the FIR, the theft is suspected to have taken place over a period of more than 10 years, between January 1, 2016, and September 21, 2026.

The missing items, known as 'thondi' or material objects produced as evidence in court cases, were in the court's custody.

It is not immediately known whether the 124 items were linked to a single case or to various court cases.

Among the missing items is a Rado watch listed as property item T-653/16 in connection with a case, police said.

The court forwarded the complaint to the Station House Officer of the Ernakulam Central Police Station, following which a case was registered.

Police said they had launched an investigation into how the items went missing from the court's property room and whether they had been stolen over an extended period.