State Police Chief Loknath Behera has issued formal orders constituting a 15-member special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the case in connection with the missing of Jesna Maria James of Vechoochira, near Ranni.
Supervised by Inspector General (Thiruvananthapuram range) Manoj Abraham, the team will have Pathanamthitta District Police Chief T. Narayanan as its operational head and Thiruvalla Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) R. Chandrasekhara Pillai as the chief investigating officer.
Kanjirappally DySP Emmanuel Paul, Kattappana DySP N.C. Rajmohan, Pathanamthitta sub-unit OCW-I DySP K.S. Sabu, Kochi city ASP Lalji, Thiruvananthapuram City Crime Detachment ASP M.S. Santhosh, and CBCID Kottayam sub-unit HHW-II Xavier Sebastian are also part of the team.
The 20-year-old woman, a second-year B.Com. student at St. Dominic’s College, Kanjirappally, was reported to have gone missing on March 22 when she was on her way to her aunt’s house at Punchavayal, near Mudakkayam, from her home. CCTV footage recovered by the police had revealed that she had reached Erumeli and boarded a bus to Mundakkayam on the same day. The police have been unable to locate her whereabouts ever since.
According to the official release, the Vechoochira police had registered an FIR as soon as a complaint was received. The investigation was initially conducted by the Vechoochira sub-inspector and later, under the Perunad circle inspector.
Reward
A reward of ₹2 lakh was also announced for those providing information that could lead to her location.
The police have appealed to the public to contact the Thiruvalla DySP (9497990035, e-mail: dysptvllapta.pol@kerala. gov.in ) with relevant information.
