PATHANAMTHITTA: Even 10 years after Sri Lankan Tamil woman Bhoolokalakshmi (who was 47 then) went missing from Gavi, the investigation team is clueless about her whereabouts. Though her husband Danielkutty Scaria had knocked at the doors of many politicians and police officials, everybody has allegedly ignored him.
“The investigation team is treating me like a nuisance. Many times, they promised me that the investigation would conclude soon, but none of them has been attending my calls since June 29,” Danielkutty told TNIE.
“I may be a headache for them, but it is my wife and mother of my two children who went missing on August 13, 2011. My wife Lakshmi’s mother Annadhanam had fallen into depression after her disappearance. She died three years ago. I can still hear her last cry calling Lakshmi’s name. I don’t know where I should go now to get justice. I had begged politicians and police officials to get any information about my wife. But all of them have washed their hands of the matter. You know, the pillows on my bed smell of my tears,” said Danielkutty.
60-year-old Danielkutty, a Christian and a native of Kollam, reached Gavi with a relative to enjoy its beauty in 1978. “But after I reached Gavi, I didn’t go back because I liked the place a lot. Gradually. I got a job as a watcher in Kerala Forest Development Corporation (KFDC) divisional manager’s office.
Bhoolokalakshmi’s parents were in Sri Lanka and they reached Tirunelveli when she was five. She passed Class X and completed a typewriting course. She came to Gavi with her parents from Tirunelveli after her mother got a job in the KFDC’s plantation in Gavi in 1989.
Later, we fell in love. Lakshmi then joined as a clerk in the divisional manager’s office and we got married. We have a son and a daughter. Lakshmi’s parents later returned to Tirunelveli. After some years, our children also went there for their studies,” he said.
“On August 13, 2011, I went to Tirunelveli to see my children. Lakshmi didn’t come with me as she was in charge of distributing wages to the plantation workers that day. Though there was no phone network coverage in Gavi, we had coverage in our house and my son had spoken to Lakshmi around 8pm that day.
After that, her phone fell silent. I reached Tirunelveli on August 14 morning and I also tried to call her. But the phone was switched off. I thought the phone had got damaged. On August 16, I came back to Gavi and saw our house locked from outside. The electric bulbs inside and outside remained on. Our house was adjacent to the old divisional manager’s office, which was shifted to another place four-five months before. I saw the marks of a car’s tyres near our residence.”
First, the case was probed by Moozhiyar police. “But they sabotaged the probe, so I approached the High Court and the case was handed over to the Crime Branch in 2012. Now Pathanamthitta CB is [probing the case,” he said. An investigation officer told TNIE that there has been no progress in the probe.” We have probed all angles, but couldn’t get any clue,” he said on condition of anonymity.