Umamageswari Maruthappan
The Kerala High Court headed by Justice V. G. Arun, ordered for a CBI probe into the missing case in Pathanamthitta district, Kerala.
Jasna Mariya James, a 22-year old woman is a 2nd year B Com student studying at St. Dominic College, Kanjirapally. She went missing on 22nd March 2018.
Following a petition filed by her brother Jais John and Abhijith, State President of Kerala Students Union, the High Court directed the State to hand over the case for CBI’s investigation. Accordingly, it ordered the State to submit the case diary and all related files to CBI.
On Assistant Solicitor General P. Vijayakumar pointing out of the lack of adequate manpower and other infrastructure facilities, the Court had also directed the State for the provision of the same.
The Crime Branch which was handling the probe has requested for an extension of six months citing the problems faced due to Covid-19 Pandemic. “An effective investigation could not be conducted in the past seven months due to the COVID-19 situation. However, the investigation was ongoing. It was not immediately possible to conclude the investigation. Therefore, six months time was needed to do justice to the investigation,” the Branch stated.
It also said that the case was too sensitive to wrap up the probe and submit report as undetected. The Crime Branch also submitted that all possible measures including witness examination and CCTV footage analysis were taken but no fruitful results arose from it.