Kottayam: Missing couple baffles cops

Kottayam: Nearly two months after a couple went missing in their car, the police is still clueless and has not even been able to determine whether the couple is dead or alive. The couple Hashim, 42, and Habeeba, 37, went missing around 9 pm on April 6, after they left their children at their house and went to Kottayam to buy food from a hotel. The couple left their mobile phones behind while driving out in their car (Wagon R - KL-5- TMP) which they had purchased a month and a half before the incident.

The children of the couple, Fathima, 13, and Bilal,9, and the kids'grandfather Abdul Kadher were inside the house when they went out. Through CCTV footage, the police recognized the car was moving to Thiruvathukkal. However, the police are not able to trace the car beyond that. According to the police, the couple was mentally disturbed and was on medication. Though the police had constituted a 30-member investigation team to investigate the case, they have not found a single clue. The police have visited various places within and outside the state in search of the couple.

The police had conducted extensive searches in water bodies and the Meenachil river using the services of a Navy team from Kochi so as to ascertain whether the vehicle was somewhere beneath the river. State Police Chief TP Senkumar visited the house of the couple at Arupara on Friday and evaluated the progress of the investigation. Mr Senkumar gave instructions to the police to increase the search focusing on water bodies.