The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said a prisoner lodged in Thiruvananthapuram’s Poojapura central jail has informed the agency that a fellow inmate of his when he was jailed in Kollam prison told him he knew the whereabouts of college student Jesna Maria James, who disappeared from Kerala’s Pathanamthitta five years back.
People aware of the matter said the CBI made inquiries and found the details were more or less correct but the person claiming to know the whereabouts was absconding since jumping bail in a robbery case last year. The agency has sought the help of the local police to trace the absconding man, who is also from Pathanamthitta.
The Kerala high court handed over James’s case to the CBI in 2021 after her brother complained local police and later crime branch investigations failed to make any headway.
James went missing in March 2018 after she left home to visit a relative in Kottayam.
A Special Investigation Team formed to look into the disappearance failed to get any leads. The case was handed over to the crime branch and a cash reward of ₹five lakh was also announced for any information on James’s whereabouts.
Some Christian outfits alleged she was converted and taken to Syria like the 21 missing persons from north Kerala who reportedly travelled to the West Asian country in 2016. But police said they found no evidence to back this claim in the case of James.
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