PALAKKAD: A second-year degree student who went missing from her house at Puthiyangam in Alathur three months ago has been found in Mumbai. A Kerala Police team brought her back home on Saturday.
According to Alathur police, 21-year-old Surya Krishna had boarded a train to Mumbai. She got acquainted with a Tamil family while travelling on the train and they took her home. The girl had told the family that she was an orphan.
“The girl was lucky to get shelter at a house in Navi Mumbai. Since she had no identity card, Surya's attempts to get hostel accommodation did not succeed. Meanwhile, the members of the family that she met while travelling to Mumbai gave her accommodation. The police were tracking her social media accounts but Surya never opened them during the past three months. However, she logged on to her Facebook account recently which helped us to trace her,” said Alathur police inspector Riyaz Chakeri.
He said the girl was not willing to return home and wanted to work and be independent. However, the police counselled her and advised her to go home. She was produced in the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Alathur.
The police brought her to Alathur on Saturday morning and recorded her statement. Surya Krishna’s parents Radhakrishnan and Sunitha also arrived at the police station. The family members had filed a missing complaint at the Alathur police station on August 30. Radhakrishnan said he had asked Surya Krishna to come to the book stall at Alathur on August 30. Though he waited for the girl, she did not turn up and was missing since.
Surya was pursuing her second year BA (Literature) course at Mercy College in Palakkad. The girl had taken just two pairs of dresses when she left home. She did not take money, ATM card, jewels or a mobile phone which made it tough to trace her.
The only evidence the police got was the footage from a CCTV camera near her house, in which she was seen walking down the road with a bag on her back.
Her father Radhakrishnan told the police that she was good at studies and had scored A Plus in all subjects in her SSLC and Plus Two examinations. She aspired to be a doctor and had joined a private institute to prepare for the NEET exam. However, she failed to secure a good rank and was dejected. Subsequently, she joined Mercy College.
A 15-member team was formed under the leadership of DySP K A Devassia to investigate the case. The police had earlier found that she had left Coimbatore station by train under a different name.