CBI report: Jesna neither converted nor kidnapped by fundamentalists
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CBI team that probed the sensational Jesna Maria James missing case has informed the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court that they have not come across any information regarding the young woman getting converted to any other faith. The premier agency also informed that the fundamentalist outfits have not played any role in the disappearance of the 20-year-old, which remains a mystery.
These details were part of the 50-page closure report that was filed by the agency before the CJM court here. The CBI report said it could not identify the current status of Jesna, whether she is alive or not. The court, acting on the report, sent a notice to Jesna’s father asking him to file his objection to the report, if he has any. He has also been summoned to appear before the court on January 19. Several right-wing groups had claimed that Jesna could’ve been forcefully converted. The CBI’s finding has pricked that claim as the premier agency reported that they inspected centres in some of the South Indian states that facilitated conversions, but no evidence could be garnered that corroborated the claims.
The agency also pursued several unnatural deaths that were reported in various states during this period, but they were found to have no bearing to the current case. The brain-mapping tests conducted on Jesna’s father and a friend revealed that there was nothing suspicious about their statements.
The CBI report mentioned that they had visited several suicide spots in the state as well, but found nothing suspicious. The lower Periyar dam area was also examined but to no avail.
The report also shed light on the social behaviour of the woman as it was found that she was not active on social media platforms. She did not possess a smartphone.
The CBI had taken over the case based on the High Court order in February 2021. Jesna had left her home at Vechoochira in Pathanamthitta on March 22, 2018, and was never to be found.
Former crime branch head Tomin J Thachankary had claimed that Jesna was alive and living outside the state. He had claimed that the agency could not travel to that place owing to restrictions imposed due to Covid. Former Pathanamthitta SP K G Simon had stirred a hornet’s nest by stating that several things connected to Jesna’s disappearance and the related probe cannot be revealed. Jesna’s family had claimed that the local police did not probe the case seriously. The CBI report, it has been learnt, has also seconded this opinion of the family.
The CBI had collected 2 lakh mobile phone numbers and scrutinised 4,000 of them to find clues regarding the missing. However, it could not find where she went from Mundakkayam. Based on the CBI’s request, Interpol issued a yellow notice on Jesna to its member countries.