Bid to steal beds from Maharaja's College hostel, former student taken into custody

KOCHI: The police have taken a former student into custody for trying to steal beds from the Maharaja's College hostel in Ernakulam. Anston of Angamaly was caught while trying to steal eight beds at around 5 am Sunday morning. He arrived for the theft by booking a vehicle through a site called Porter.

Anston completed his graduation from Maharaja's College in 2024. When hostel staff noticed the beds being loaded into a vehicle this morning, they stopped him and questioned him. He said that the bed was full of bedbugs and that he was taking it to Angamaly to kill the bedbugs using a spray. When asked who had assigned him to do this, he did not give a clear answer. With this, the hostel staff informed the police. The Ernakulam Central Police, which arrived at the scene immediately, took him into custody. He is being grilled. His arrest will be recorded today.

Some of the beds loaded into the vehicle were in a disassembled state. The police are also investigating whether anyone helped in this. It has also been found that Anston, who reached the hostel premises in the morning, called some student organization leaders on the phone. The police are trying to get information from them. It is not clear whether they had any role in trying to steal the beds.