The Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate on Monday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to further investigate the Rahul missing case in which the CBI has filed the closure report.
Chief Judicial Magistrate V Hari Kumar ordered further probe after considering the objection raised by the relatives of Rahul against the closing of the case.
The CBI informed the court that it is ready to investigate further and few more aspects of the case need to be probed, while the court was considering the objection petition filed by Rahul’s relatives. On the basis of this, the court decided to order CBI to further investigate the case.
Earlier, the CBI had filed a report before the court stating that despite all efforts to find him, the boy Rahul remained untraceable.
The CBI submitted that it had announced a reward of `50,000 for any information leading to the tracing of Rahul and this was publicised in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Mumbai. However, despite these efforts, there is no clue about the whereabouts of Rahul till now.
Rahul, the seven-year-old son of Mini and Raju, went missing on May 18, 2005, when he was playing with his friends near his house in Ashramam Ward.
The local police and the Crime Branch failed to trace him and the case was handed over to the CBI. The CBI took over the inquiry on June 14, 2005, and questioned various people, including the neighbours.
The involvement of Rojo George, who was near the playground on that day was suspected at first. He was made to undergo narco-analysis, brain mapping and polygraph test.
However, during the investigation no concrete evidence against him could be found.
The CBI had earlier filed closure reports in the case in 2009 and 2012, but the Chief Judicial Magistrate had ordered further investigation on both occasions into the case.
Family Lives in Hope
Mini, mother of Rahul, who went missing in 2005, said that the family had high hopes about finding their lost son when the CBI took over the investigation of the case from the Kerala Crime Branch. But contrary to their expectations, the CBI failed to find any new leads in the case.
“When we heard that the CBI has taken over the case, we hoped that they would find our child. But just like the local police, they took the statement of some people in the neighborhood, did some scientific tests and never came back. Later, they filed a report that case has to be closed. We still believe that Rahul is living somewhere. He would have been 14 years old by now,” Mini told Express.
The distraught mother said that they have no option but to continue hoping and appealing to the police and the CBI to keep up the search. “Two months ago, a person from Thiruvananthapuram had written a letter that a boy who looked like Rahul was seen with a criminal.
We immediately informed the Sub Inspector of the Alappuzha North police station. However, despite launching a search, they could not trace the child.