PALAKKAD: The police team led by Agali DySP N Muraleedharan investigating the disappearance of forest watcher PP Rajan has almost concluded that he had left Sairindhri area of the Silent Valley National Park on his own on May 3. The police have questioned Rajan’s friends and family members. They have also issued a lookout notice for him.
One of the forest beat officers had confided to the police that Rajan had told him that if any wild animal took him away, his family members would at least get a compensation of Rs 11 lakh. This statement has been recorded by the police. Besides, Rajan did not carry his mobile phone with him while going out to have dinner before he disappeared.
The police team says that he is certainly not inside the forest. They say that no bloodstain was spotted in any part of the nearby forest even after more than 150 personnel had searched every nook and cranny for nearly 13 days. Though his slippers and torch were recovered, his shirt was not seen anywhere.
Sources told TNIE that when the police contacted their counterparts in Tamil Nadu -- Q branch -- they said that there had been no movement of Maoists inside the forests in the border areas near Attappadi in the last two years. The camera traps installed by the Q branch in the forests of Tamil Nadu have also not recorded any movements. Therefore, the apprehension of Rajan’s family members that he could have been kidnapped by Maoists does not hold water.
The police said they expect to get a lead by the weekend. A police team had gone to Karamada in Tamil Nadu to see whether Rajan was with his friends there. The police believe that Rajan could be on the run. The more the delay, the more difficult it would be to trace him. The police said Rajan had not been in good terms with his wife in the last two years. However, he had patched up with his family recently and used to visit them occasionally. His daughter’s marriage has been fixed for June 11.
Silent Valley National Park warden S Vinod also said they are pinning their hopes on the police as none of the 30 camera traps placed in the forests have recorded any movement of wild animals since May 3 when Rajan went missing.
Meanwhile, Rajan’s sister Sathya Bhama told the media that her brother would not have gone out of the forest as he was dedicated to his job. She said the Maoists would have kidnapped Rajan to show them the trekking path to be taken through the Silent Valley forests. These angles also need to be probed by the police, she added.