KOTTAYAM: In what appears to be a major breakthrough in the investigation into the missing case of Jesna Maria James, a college student from Mukkoottuthara near Erumeli, a young girl looking like Jesna was reportedly seen in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Though the report is yet to be confirmed, special investigation team (SIT) members reached Bengaluru and
strengthened the investigation. According to reports, a girl looking like Jesna arrived with a boy at Aswas Bhavan attached to Dharmaram seminary and St Thomas Church at Diary Circle in Bengaluru city on Saturday. Aswas Bhavan is a place offering free food to the public.
Hearing the reports about Jesna's presence in Bengaluru, Pathanamthitta MP Anto Antony, who is in Karnataka for political campaigning, rushed to Aswas Bhavan to verify the reports. "The girl and boy arrived there at around 11.30 am on Saturday.
An Aswas Bhavan employee said the girl was Jesna after seeing some photographs I showed him. The girl reportedly requested a priest for blessing their marriage. She told Malayali employees in Aswas Bhavan that she hails from Mukkoottuthara," Anto told Express.
The duo, who arrived in an expensive motorcycle, reportedly told Aswas Bhavan authorities that they met with an accident and were admitted at NIMHANS for a couple of weeks. Anto passed on the information to Pathanamthitta SP T Narayanan and requested the assistance of Karnataka politicians and police to check CCTV visuals to confirm the identity of the girl and boy.
Meanwhile, SP Narayanan said a four-member team, of inspectors from Thiruvalla, Perinad and the Women's Cell, and Thiruvalla SI, is in Bengaluru to verify the reports. "They are checking CCTV visuals and phone records. However, we have not got any evidence confirming the presence of Jesna in Bengaluru," he said.
He added the special investigation team has strengthened search operations in north Kerala and Karnataka, and not banking solely on the reports from Bengaluru. "A team of 15 members under the aegis of Thiruvalla DYSP is taking all efforts to find the girl," he said.
At the same time, Jesna's relatives were not satisfied with the reports. "We got this information through the media; the police did not pass any information to us about this. Moreover, they did not seek our assistance to confirm her identity," said Jesna's father James Joseph.
Jesna, hailing from Kunnathu house, Kollamula, went missing on March 22 at around 10.30 am. Jesna, who went to her relative's house in the morning, did not return. Though Jesna's father lodged a complaint on the same day, there has been no progress in the investigation so far.