The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Theft on Karyavattom campus

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 12, 2007
ePaper

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Theft on Karyavattom campus

Staff Reporter

Research data was actual target, says Vice-Chancellor

11 rooms in botany block broken into
Three video cameras and Rs.25,000 missing

Thiruvananthapuram: 11 rooms in the botany block on University of Kerala’s Karyavattom campus were broken into on Saturday night by miscreants who ransacked the cupboards and laboratories and decamped with three video cameras and cash totalling Rs.25,000.

The rooms and cupboards were found ransacked, catalogues torn, and computers and laptops thrown outside. The 11 rooms which houses the departments of botany, communication and journalism and centre for bioinformatics were broke open. Of these, seven belonged to Department of Botany and three to Department of Communication and Journalism.

Of the three video cameras, two were stolen from the department of communication and journalism housed in the third floor and the other from the department of botany. The cash stored in the office of Surya Kiran Bioinformatics company functioning at the technology incubation facility was missing.

The incident came to light after the security personnel of the varsity noticed laptops lying near the staircase of the department around 6 a.m. on Sunday. By coincidence, head of the department of botany G.M. Nair also reached the botany block, situated on the opposite side of the main Karyavattom campus, around 6.15 a.m.

The common instrumentation laboratory and the biotechnology laboratory of the department and cupboards in all the rooms were found ransacked by the miscreants. As valuable instruments and steel cupboards in the department were intact, the authorities were of the opinion that theft was not the main intention of the miscreants.

“A group appears to be behind this, led by somebody within the campus itself. The miscreants seem to have targeted research data stored in various forms inside these rooms. Some actions seem to have been done to try and create the impression of a theft,” Vice-Chancellor of the University M.K. Ramachandran Nair told The Hindu on Sunday.

A magazine containing the picture of People’s Democratic Party leader Abdul Nasir Maudany was found on the notice board and a saffron dhoti reportedly left behind by the miscreants was found near the library housed in the first floor.

The incident exposed the lack of security in the block. Officials admitted that security personnel posted there were withdrawn long ago. Finger print experts and a police dog were pressed into service.

According to Dr. Ramachandran Nair the sniffer dog crossed the main road and went into the main campus at Karyavattom, proceeded to a point near the department of Malayalam and stopped.

The Kazhakuttom police have registered a case on a complaint from Dr. G.M. Nair and have commenced an investigation.

Security to be revamped

As part of stepping up security measures in the botany block, the University would appoint four more security personnel on a daily- wage basis on Monday.

There were 33 security personnel at Karyavattom working in three shifts.

A security post would be established inside botany block and the four newly recruited security personnel posted there.

The local police have also agreed to review the security on the University’s campuses, the Vice-Chancellor added.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala