One year into the investigation of the missing case of Jesna Mariam James, a college student from Kollamula in Ranni taluk, the Crime Branch Police is groping in the dark.
The 20-year-old Jesna has been missing since March 22, 2018, while she was on her way to her aunt’s house at Punchavayal, near Mundakkayam.
On her way to Punchavayal, Jesna had reportedly boarded a bus to Erumely. The CCTV footage retrieved by the police showed Jesna getting down at Erumely and boarding a Mundakkayam-bound bus on March 22. Her whereabouts after that are not known.
The team headed by Thiruvalla Dy.SP had extended the probe to outside the State too following reports of sighting a girl resembling Jesna in Bengaluru and Chennai. The police team had verified more than one lakh telephone calls as part of the investigation.
The government later ordered a Crime Branch probe into the case when Jesna’s brother moved the High Court seeking a CBI probe. State Police Chief Loknath Behera had announced a reward of ₹5 lakh to those who provided information on the missing girl, but to no avail.
Jesna’s family, especially her younger brother Jais, suspect that she had been abducted.
Uploaded
Photographs of Jesna have been uploaded on the websites and WhatsApp groups of the Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the Kerala Police. Kerala Police teams have visited Mysuru and Bengaluru on the basis of a few telephonic messages received at the control room.
The special team members have also visited Manjeri, Ponnani, Malappuram, and Thrissur.
Varghese Perayil, chairman of the Kerala Samskarika Vedi, a cultural forum of Kerala Congress (M), has reiterated the organisation’s demand for a CBI probe into the case.
