Missing case: Jesna Maria's teacher alleges cop laxity

PATHANAMTHITTA: The initial indifference of the police led to the lagging of investigation into the missing of Jesna, feels her teacher. “If the police had taken it seriously from the beginning, evidence would not have disappeared,” said Mendel Jose, a teacher at St. Dominic’s College, Kanjirappally, where she studied BCom.  “A police complaint was filed on March 22, on the same day she went missing. However, they reached her only on April 3."

He found her excelling in both academic and extracurricular activities. He could not believe  that such she has  vanished.  "I have also noticed allegations raised against her male friend. He's also an excellent student,” he said. Meanwhile, the government admitted in the High Court that it was still clueless about her disappearance.  Over 250 people were questioned, recorded statements of 130, and scrutinised over a lakh of phone records and the information of spotting her outside the state was baseless.

The special investigation team had also inspected a building site of her father James Joseph at Enthayar in Mundakayam. They have installed dropboxes in Mukkoottuthara, her native place, and on her college campus for informers. The cyber cell also retrieved her call details and messages she had sent to her friend a day before she went missing. The messages hinted that she was going to end her life. The investigators also found the friend calling her more than a thousand times. Jesna Maria James, 20, was a second-year student, hailing from Vechoochira in Ranni.