Kottayam: Three final-year medical students at Kottayam Medical College faced a harsh setback when their electronic gadgets—valued around ₹2.8 lakh—were stolen from their hostel rooms. The students, preparing for their NEET PG exams, stored vital study notes and materials on these devices, making the theft a huge blow.

The stolen items included two tablets and a laptop: a Samsung tablet worth ₹50,000 belonging to Gautham Krishna (Room No. 9), a OnePlus tablet worth ₹30,000 owned by Raiphel AJ (Room No. 7), and an MSI laptop worth ₹2 lakh belonging to Thomas Cyriac (Room No. 6). The theft took place between 8:30 am and 11:30 am on Wednesday while the students were on duty near the hospital casualty area.

Initial police inaction forced the students to take matters into their own hands, using location tracking apps. Using the Samsung Find app, they traced one tablet near Kottayam Railway Station around 12:30 pm, then along the Kollam–Tirupati Express route through Aluva, Thrissur, Palakkad, Coimbatore, and Chennai. However, tracking was hampered since the devices lacked SIM cards and relied on nearby Samsung devices for internet.

Despite repeated requests, the Gandhinagar police only registered an FIR the next day under sections related to housebreaking and theft. A police team led by Sub Inspector Prasanth traveled to Chennai for further investigation.

The last known location of the Samsung tablet was a mobile service centre in Chennai, but the police have yet to recover it. The hostel has no internal CCTV and lacks security staff, with students managing it themselves. CCTV footage showed a masked man leaving with a large bag.

The investigation is ongoing, with authorities working to retrieve the stolen gadgets critical for the students’ exam preparations.

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