Published Jul 01, 2026 | 11:44 AM ⚊ Updated Jul 01, 2026 | 11:44 AM
Jashnavi with the Kochi Police personnel who recovered her lost bag. (Supplied)
Synopsis: An Andhra Pradesh student who accidentally left a bag containing her original educational certificates, cash and other important documents on a city bus in Kochi, was helped to recover it within three hours after a search by the Kochi Police. A three-second mobile phone video recorded during the journey helped officers identify the bus by narrowing the search to vehicles on the Vyttila circular route.
The Kochi Police on Tuesday, 30 June, swiftly recovered a bag containing an Andhra Pradesh student’s original educational certificates, cash and other important documents after it was accidentally left behind on a city bus. A three-second mobile phone video recorded during the journey provided the crucial lead that helped identify the vehicle.
The bag belonged to Jashnavi and her mother, Lalitha Rani, natives of East Godavari in Andhra Pradesh, who had travelled to Kerala to attend an LLB entrance examination.
While returning from the examination, they inadvertently left the bag on the luggage rack of a bus operating between Vyttila Hub and the High Court.
The mother and daughter approached the Vyttila Traffic Tower around 4 p.m. with only their bus ticket to help identify the service. Besides Jashnavi’s original educational certificates, the bag also contained cash, train tickets and other important documents, making its recovery particularly urgent.
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Despite heavy rain, personnel from the Ernakulam Traffic East Police Station launched a search, checking buses and circulating a photograph of the bus ticket through WhatsApp groups of bus owners and employees.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Jijeesh, Sub-Inspector Joy Joseph and Home Guard Sudhan, who were on Traffic-3 duty at Vyttila Junction, coordinated the operation.
The search received a crucial boost from a three-second video recorded by Jashnavi during the bus journey. Although the clip showed only the Town Hall area, it enabled the officers to narrow the search to buses operating on the Vyttila circular route.
The police also contacted Nelson, an office-bearer of the Vyttila–Vyttila Bus Owners Association, who shared the information with bus staff despite the association office having closed for the day.
More than three hours after the search began, a bus employee identified the vehicle from the video as the Friends bus. Assistant Sub-Inspector Jijeesh traced the bus and recovered the bag from the luggage rack.
The bag, along with all the original educational certificates, other documents, cash and train tickets, was returned to Jashnavi and her mother.
(Edited by Dese Gowda with inputs from Sreelakshmi Soman)
