Kerala: 45 years on, man believed to be dead in air crash returns home

KOLLAM: Ninetyone-year-old Fathima Beevi also, like her other family members, believed that her eldest son Sajaad Thangal (70) had died in a 1976 air crash. On Saturday evening, however, he returned to Beevi's loving hands after 45 years.
The occasion turned into a celebration at their house, Padanilathu Thekkathil, Venga, Mainagappally Sasthamcotta, with friends and relatives arriving to witness the reunion.
Sajaad, who had gone to the UAE in a ship in 1971, had returned to Mumbai in 1996 by air. His family members believed that he had also died in the air crash, in which south Indian actress Ranichandra was also killed, as there was no information about him after that.
Sajaad was part of a team that organised a stage show of Ranichandra in the Gulf and he suspected that he could also be made an accused in the case related to the air crash. Ranichandra had offered the organisers a print of one of her films after they didn't profit much from the stage show and he was asked to go with her to Madras, now Chennai, and collect it. However, it was his friend Sudhakaran who accompanied her.
‘Fell into depression after the accident’
Sajaad says he fell into a depression after the accident. It was two years ago that he reached Zeal Ashram in Panavel near Mumbai. The ashram officials identified his family in Sathamcotta last week and handed him over to his younger brothers Muhammed Kunju, Abdul Rasheed and nephew Salim a couple of days ago.
Sajaad says he could return home and meet his mother because of the love and care he got at the ashram. “I cannot describe how good they were,” he adds.
However, Sajaad’s long disappearance remains a mystery as there were widespread rumours of sabotage behind Ranichandra’s death in those days.