Pathanamthitta: It has been nearly two years since Jesna Maria James went missing.
Jesna, a native of Kollamula in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district, went missing on March 22, 2018. She left home to go to a relative's house at Mundakayam in Kottayam district. Though there are reports that she reached Erumely, none saw her after that.
An extensive probe was launched to track down the girl, but after two years there is little clarity on what could have happened to Jesna, a student at the St Dominic's College in Kanjirappally.
Probe held within & outside Kerala
The police began a probe after Jesna's father gave a complaint that his daughter had not returned home. The Vechoochira police made enquiries at all places Jesna could have been to. After it was widely rumoured that she had gone with a friend from Mundakayam, her classmate was questioned but did not throw up any leads.
During these two years, the probe was held both within the state and outside.
With the help of the cyber cell, thousands of phone calls were also checked. The state police chief also announced a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh to those who came forth with any information.
Initially, the case was probed by Vechoochira police and then taken over by Perunad station house officer and team. Both investigations failed to shed any light on the case.
After the missing case was taken up in the Assembly, the investigation charge was handed over to the Thiruvalla DySP. Currently, a team led by Pathanamthitta Crime Branch DySP Muhammed Kabeer Ravoothar is probing the case.
Who is the girl in the CCTV images?
The Crime Branch could not add much to the probe findings of the local police. All the police found were CCTV images. During the enquiries made by the relatives, they had found CCTV images of Jesna sitting in the bus to Mundakayam. However, the police could not confirm if the girl was indeed Jesna.
A lookalike of Jesna was found in the CCTV images at the Mundakayam stand. But the police could not track down this girl either.
The Crime Branch probe is also centred around CCTV images. Along with the girl, suspected to be Jesna, two others were also found, raising suspicions.
The police had conducted enquiries at various places based on the CCTV images. These were published in various media platforms, but did not yield any results.
In between, there were reports of Jesna being spotted in Bengaluru. But even that was found to be a dead lead.