It’s a classic case of whodunnit. A critical part of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), an underwater robotic machine created by 25 IIT Bombay students, has gone missing from campus since March 21.

The part in question went missing minutes after the students gave a live demonstration of the machine’s capabilities at the IIT campus swimming pool on the evening of March 21. This AUV was the technical institute’s official entry to the prestigious Robosub International Underwater Vehicle Competition to be held at San Diego in July. The matter has been reported in the Institute’s internal newsletter now even though officials are tight-lipped and students told to lie low.