Mystery of missing Kerala college girl

Thiruvananthapuram: Ninety one days after the mysterious disappearance of a college girl in Kerala, police investigation to trace her has made little progress, attracting criticism from her family, friends and an action council that has been formed to press investigators to find her.

Jesna John James, a native of Vechoochira in Pathanamthitta district went missing on March 22, leaving hardly any clues for investigators to act upon.

She was a second year degree student. In one of the search operations dozens of her college mates joined policemen in searching some forest areas near Mundakayam in an effort to trace her.

Initially, police did not have access to her phone history, but since then it has been revealed that she was close to a male friend, with whom she had exchanged over a thousand calls, and also sent messages.

The last message that she sent to her boyfriend was “I will be going today”.

Police have already questioned the male friend, and is likely to consider interrogating him further.

Meanwhile, police have also decided to search the premises of a building that is under construction at Yendayar near Mundakayam, for which her father has taken the construction contract.

Over the past three months, people in different parts of the country claimed to have seen Jesna, after which police searched those places. So far, police teams from the state have gone to Chennai, Bengaluru, Goa and Pune after reported sightings of Jesna in those cities.

The action council has met the chief minister and the director general of police to demand a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the disappearance of Jesna. Her brother has also approached the Kerala High Court with a similar plea.