Mystery clouds Perumbavoor student’s death as mother points to missing phone, ‘secret’ boyfriend

Kochi: On Monday morning, 22-year-old Anjana Biju followed a routine that spoke of a future she was actively building, not one she intended to leave behind. She woke up at 5.30 am and spent the early hours at her desk, meticulously writing notes for her final-year BA History exam. Before leaving her home in Elambakapilly, she sought blessings and applied a smear of sandal paste to her forehead, bidding a smiling farewell to her mother Bindu.

“She said ‘I’m leaving for the exam’ and left with her grandmother at 8:45 am. She was even talking normally to the elderly women at the local shop,” Bindu recalled. “Why would she study so hard, preparing notes until 2:30 am on the previous night, if she was going to end her life the next morning? If someone is planning to leave forever, they don't put in that kind of effort to study,” Bindu added.

By 10.30 am, however, the shocking news of Anjana being found drowning in the Periyar river near the Chengal railway bridge came. Though she was rushed to the hospital, she could not be saved. 

While preliminary police reports suggested a suicide, Bindu has now moved the District Police Chief, alleging a deeper mystery and the possible involvement of a young man Anjana was secretly seeing.

Bindu describes Anjana as a girl who was far from the typical profile of someone in despair. She was a high achiever with a 93 per cent score in her last semester and a clear ambition to pursue Archaeology at Kerala University in Thiruvananthapuram. She was also a prominent local leader, the regional vice president of the DYFI for Mudakkuzha and a Red Volunteer captain who led many party marches when senior leaders visited Perumbavoor.

“My daughter was a bold girl and she is very familiar to all in Perumbavoor. Since I am a member of the CPM’s local committee, people know her. The place where she was found is isolated and known for drug addicts and anti-social activities. If she knew what kind of place that was, she would never have gone there alone. I suspect she might have been lured there by someone,” Bindu added.

The family learned of Anjana’s secret relationship with a youth only after her death. According to friends, Anjana had intended to end the relationship. 

“I came to know about her relationship with the youngster only at the hospital from one of my daughter’s friends. He told me she wanted to break up and needed to see him to speak about it and end it. I suspect she might have gone to that place for this,” Bindu alleged.

Central to the family’s suspicion is Anjana’s missing mobile phone. While her bag and notebook were recovered from the bridge, the device remains untraced. Bindu claims that her mother (Anjana's grandmother) saw Anjana chatting extensively on her phone while on the bus to Perumbavoor, which she suspects was with her boyfriend. 

Later, Anjana's elder sister, Anaswara, managed to contact the youngster the day after the tragedy.

“He spoke very normally and he was cool. When Anaswara asked why he didn't come to see Anjana, he said, ‘I can't come, I can't see her like that,” Bindu said. 

“I doubt whether her phone is with him. He spoke with such boldness. We need that phone to know what kind of mental pressure she was under and the messages that were exchanged,” she added.

Bindu also pointed to a timing discrepancy. Anjana was spotted at the Perumbavoor bus stand at 9.30 am. By 10 am, she was reportedly at the bridge in Kalady. “Unless she was on a two-wheeler, it’s hard to believe she reached that spot, through the Kalady traffic, and jumped in such a short gap,” Bindu said.

Furthermore, witnesses near the bridge reported hearing a loud, piercing scream of “Ayyo!” before the splash. “A day after my daughter’s death, my brother went to the place to enquire about the incident. The local residents said they saw someone running from the spot where she drowned. Also, they heard her screaming. A girl who walks all that way to intentionally commit suicide doesn't scream like that. That was a cry of fear,” her mother insisted.

District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural), SP KS Sudarshan, confirmed to Onmanorama that a formal complaint has been received from Bindu and that a thorough probe was underway. “We have received her complaint. The victim's phone is missing and I have directed the police to use divers and check if it had fallen into the river along with her,” SP Sudarshan said. He added that the police are also scrutinising the details of the alleged boyfriend.

For Bindu, who has been living separately from Anjana's father for three years, the quest for truth is all that remains. “She was so talented and had so much to look forward to. We just want to know what happened in those final minutes and who was really there with her,” she said.