More cyber experts from Kannur, Ernakulam, Thrissur, and Thiruvananthapuram have been inducted into the Kerala police special team investigating the missing case of Jesna Maria James, from Vechoochira on March 22.
Speaking to The Hindu, T. Narayanan, District Police Chief, has said that the police could recover certain valuable data from a damaged hard disk of the CCTV installed at the bus stand at Mundakkayam the other day.
Mr. Narayanan said a few video footages recovered from the hard disk had shown a girl with a striking resemblance to Jesna.
The police had also released a few screen shots of the CCTV footages showing a teenager, wearing jeans, T-shirt and a shawl, at the Mundakkayam bus station in an effort to identify the girl.
According to him, the video footage is of March 22 forenoon. The family members of Jesna have stated that she had left home for Punchavayal near Mundakkayam around 9.30 a.m. on March 22.
Circumstantial evidence hints at a possibility that Jesna might have reached Mundakkayam bus stand almost the same time as shown in the video footages of the girl in jeans, says the DPC.
There were reports on the sighting of Jesna at Erumeli around 10.30 a.m. and the CCTV footages recovered from the Mundakkayuam bus stand were shot around 11.40 a.m. on March 22.
Another footage showed a youth with very close resemblance to Jesna’s friend too at the bus stand around the same time. Jesna’s friends have reportedly recognised him in the footage.
There were also reports of another girl from Vellanady near Mundakkayam having similarities with Jesna.
Mr. Narayanan said the police also verified that she was not the one found in the footages. The DPC said the police had started the re-verification of the nearly one lakh phone calls transmitted from the mobile towers in Erumeli, Mundakkayam and nearby places on March 22.
Jesna is a BCom student at St. Dominic’s College at Kanjirappally. She has been reportedly missing from March 22 on her way to an aunt’s house in Punchavayal near Mundakkayam from her home at Mukkoottuthara near Vechoochira.
The footages collected from Erumely showed Jesna getting down at Erumeli and boarding another bus to Mundakkayam around 10.30 a.m. on March 22.