Equipment worth ₹7.65 lakh stolen from air quality monitoring station in Ahmedabad

Unknown persons broke into an air quality monitoring station operated by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) at the Sardar Patel Stadium campus in Naranpura and decamped with scientific equipment and other office items worth over ₹7.65 lakh.

As per the First Information Report (FIR) registered at Naranpura Police Station, the burglary is suspected to have taken place between the night of August 30 and the afternoon of August 31. The theft came to light after engineers noticed that the monitoring system at the station had abruptly shut down and failed to restart.

The complaint has been filed by Sudhir Kumar Vishwakarma, an executive engineer with AQMS Limited, which operates air quality monitoring stations on behalf of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology. Vishwakarma stated that the AQMS station located inside the Sardar Patel Stadium premises is overseen by engineer Nirmal Kumar Bharia, whose working hours are from 9 am to 6 pm.

The station was locked at approximately 10 pm on August 29 after routine work. The following day, while checking server data remotely, officials found that the system had gone offline. Initially suspecting a power or internet disruption, no immediate visit was made to the site. However, when the system did not resume operations, officials visited the station on the afternoon of August 31 and found that a window had been broken using a tool and the office ransacked.

A detailed inspection revealed that several high-value instruments had been stolen, including a nitrogen cylinder worth ₹39,500, six 12V 65AH batteries valued at ₹1.26 lakh, an MGC machine worth ₹3.06 lakh, an external NOx air compressor pump worth ₹1.72 lakh, a Picolino pump worth ₹86,725, and a UPS charger valued at ₹33,971. The total value of the stolen equipment is estimated at ₹7.65 lakh

Police said the stolen items are critical components used for continuous air quality monitoring and data collection. “The theft has disrupted the functioning of the monitoring station. We are examining CCTV footage from the surrounding area and questioning security personnel deployed at the stadium complex,” a police official said.