Pathanamthitta: Pathanamthitta SP K G Simon has said that he was optimistic about the investigation into the missing case of college student Jesna Maria James.
"The COVID-19 pandemic affected the investigation. The probe was even held in Tamil Nadu. There are several matters that cannot be revealed. But there is a clear answer in the investigation. It would be decided without much delay," Simon told Manorama News.
K G Simon is set to retire on December 31. There would be some clarity in the case before that, according to sources.
Jesna, a native of Kollamula in Pathanamthitta district, went missing on March 22, 2018. She was a second-year BCom student at the St Dominic's College in Kanjirappally.
Though a special police team was deployed to probe the missing case, no information could be gathered about her whereabouts.
The case was then handed over to the Crime Branch. Jesna had left home to visit a relative's house at Punchavayal in Mundakayam. She reportedly went till Erumely in a private bus. But nobody has seen her since.
Her father gave a complaint at the Erumely police station on the day Jesna went missing, and at the Vechoochira station the next day.
Jesna had not taken the mobile phone with her on the day she left home. Though a probe was held over the phone at the house, no evidence was found. As the probe was not progressing, the special team was formed under the Thiruvalla DySP.
During the probe, two lakh landline-mobile numbers were collected. Of which, 4000 numbers were checked in detail.
The police carried out investigations at Kodagu and Bengaluru. Though a security guard had said that he had seen Jesna and a friend at a firm in Bengaluru, it was later confirmed that the girl was not Jesna.
After receiving inputs that Jesna had been spotted at the Bengaluru airport and metro, the police went to Bengaluru several times and checked the CCTV visuals. But none of those visuals were of Jesna.
The police had questioned a male friend of Jesna, who had called her 16 times on the day she went missing. But the police said they got no leads, despite questioning him several times.
