2 weeks on, family has no trace of 22-yr-old missing from Pathanamthitta, cops reach Jammu & Kashmir

Coming home after work at the plantation that evening, P J Chacko — a native of Thulappally in Pathanamthitta and a father of two — quickly freshened up and waited for his younger son to return. The 22-year-old had taken the family's car that morning, and Chacko needed it to take his wife, Alphonsa, to a hospital.

As night began to fall, Josephine Chacko had still not come back. With no phone in his possession and no way to reach him, the family was left in the dark, gripped by growing fear. They approached the Pamba police, who later traced a new SIM card allegedly purchased by Josephine. The probe team first travelled to Delhi and has since moved on to Jammu in connection with the investigation.

Josephine went missing on February 23. Before Chacko left home for work at the plantation in Kanjirappally that day, he put his hand through the window near his son's bed and woke him up playfully. "He teased me," Chacko recalls, managing a faint smile despite his heavy heart. That was the last time he saw his son.

At home that morning were Josephine’s mother, Alphonsa, and grandmother, Mariyamma. Around 10 am, Josephine drove his grandmother in their Alto car to a nearby community health centre for her routine check-up. “He had told me earlier that he wanted to buy a new mobile phone. I gave him ₹4,000 and asked him to opt for a lower-cost model on no-cost EMI. He agreed,” Chacko says. "According to his mother, Josephine also mentioned that he planned to visit a few shops in Erumeli and Mukkoottuthara to restitch some clothes and repair his shoes," he adds. After dropping his grandmother at the health centre and asking her to return with a neighbouring family, Josephine drove away.

Josephine’s earlier phone had been damaged, and he had been using his mother’s handset with his SIM card inserted. That morning, when he tried to take the SIM out to use it in a new device, it broke. He left the damaged card at home.

Around noon, Chacko tried calling to tell him that buying a new phone was unnecessary, as his nephew from Bengaluru would soon bring one. His wife answered and informed him that Josephine had already left. “I even complained about his haste,” Chacko says. "There was no way to pass the message on to him as Alphonsa didn't let him carry her phone."

When Chacko returned home in the evening, he expected his son to be back with the car. “Josephine usually drives the car, and I take any of the two-wheelers. Since we had to go to the hospital that day, I planned to use the car,” he says. Alphonsa, a diabetic patient, regularly visits the private hospital in Mundakkayam for check-ups.

"Josephine typically returned home before 6.30 pm. As the hours passed and darkness set in, worry intensified," says Chacko. He then approached the Pamba police, who registered a case under Section 57 (missing person complaint) of the Kerala Police (KP) Act.

After completing his BBA at MES College in Erumeli and a six-month diploma in Oil and Gas Engineering in Kochi, Josephine had been attending online coaching classes in Human Resources while searching for a job. “He had very few friends and mostly stayed at home. He was even hesitant to visit relatives and attend family functions,” Chacko says. He had a job offer from a Kochi firm asking him to join on February 24, but he rejected it, suspecting it to be fraudulent. “He discussed it with me before declining,” his father adds.

During the investigation, police traced the car passing through Kanamala, the nearest junction to their house, and Mukkoottuthara. His previous driving instructor also stated that he had seen Josephine overtake him near Erumeli around noon. After that, there were no confirmed sightings. Later, the family noticed that some of his good clothes and a pair of shoes were missing — items he had said he would take for stitching. “He had also taken the file in which he kept all his certificates,” Chacko says.

According to him, the police found a clue after a new SIM card was activated using Josephine’s earlier contact number as a reference. The probe initially extended to Dindigul and later to Delhi. Two officers from the Pamba police station, along with Chacko’s elder brother Sunny, travelled to Delhi. From there, they moved to Punjab and are now in Jammu and Kashmir.

“They recently informed us that they are unable to track the number now, as the phone in which the SIM was inserted has been switched off,” Chacko says. At one point, police also indicated that the car might have been spotted in Kozhikode, but it has not been found so far, he alleges.

Despite the uncertainty, Chacko says he remains hopeful about the investigation. “They told us they are probing it seriously and have alerted all stations. We still have no clue. He has no reason to leave us like this. We just want to know what happened to our son,” he says.

Besides his parents, Josephine has a married elder sister, Bincy.