KOCHI: During one of my routine health check-up visits to the households in the area, I found the door to her house locked. I asked the neighbours about her whereabouts and whether she had mentioned any travel plans, but they had no information. Feeling concerned, I informed her son and the ward councillor,” Asha worker Aswathy recounted how Subadhra’s disappearance came to light. But her face wore a sad look as she struggled to accept that Subadhra was no more, and that she would never again hear her say, ‘Don’t worry, I’m physically fit by God’s grace.’ Aswathy emphasised that, though she was in her 70s, Subadhra had no significant health issues.
Meanwhile, Subadhra’s neighbour and a close acquaintance in the Karithala area, M A Narayanan, said: “She was a self-made woman, and confident of handling all her matters independently. As far as I can remember, she didn’t have any major issues with anyone but neither was she close enough with her neighbours.”
Subadhra and her family had been living there for over 50 years. She ran a small local finance business, and many shop owners in the area borrowed money from her. It was one of her sources of income. Her husband was an employee at the fisheries department canteen. They bought the house on Karithala Road with the money he received upon retirement. About 15 years ago, her husband passed away. Her children lived with her before they got married, but for the past eight years, she had been living alone in the house. However, her children were in contact with her on a daily basis, especially her second son, who lives in nearby Gandhinagar. Still, she chose not to stay with them.
Responding to Subadhra’s relationship with the suspected woman Sharmila and her husband, he said, “They had a good relationship, and Subadhra once introduced them to me. Sharmila and her husband would often come and stay with her, and sometimes Subadhra would go to Alappuzha to stay with them, where Sharmila’s husband’s house is located. From what Subadhra told me, I learnt that he (Sharmila’s husband) was a fisherman in Alappuzha.”
The last time I saw Subadhra was on August 3, near the South Railway Station. She was walking with someone clad in saree, but I saw them from a distance and couldn’t clearly make out who the other person was, said Narayanan. That was my last sight of her just from afar, without any words exchanged, he added.
“She was an ardent devotee and visited the temple twice a day. In fact, the ‘prasadam’ from the temple was her regular meal,” said another neighbour who wished to remain anonymous. Though she received a decent amount from her husband’s pension and had her own earnings from her finance business, she would not spend a single penny on even basic needs, he said. It seemed like she had a large bank balance, and she always wore a lot of gold jewellery. During a casual conversation, I told her to suggest her sons as nominees to her bank accounts and assets to avoid any disputes later. But she just smiled, as if she had already made a firm decision on the matter, he added.
The neighbour further said, “We reported her missing immediately to the police because, as an elderly woman who was financially well-off, we were concerned about her safety.”
Meanwhile, Satheesh, originally from Kozhikode but a long-time resident of Karithala Road, said, “As neighbours, we saw her regularly, but we never entered into conversations. I used to see a young man with her, along with a woman, and thought they were her son and daughter.” When asked where his house was located, he pointed to a nearby house next to Shivakripa (Subadhra’s residence). Like Satheesh most people in the neighbourhood are clueless about her disappearance, and her secluded life remains a mystery to them much like the one shrouding her death.