The Kerala High Court on Friday sought the response of the Central Bureau of Investigation to a plea for a CBI probe into the missing of Jesna Maria James, a second-year BCom student, from her home at Ranni since March 22, 2018.
When the petition came up for hearing, senior government pleader P. Narayanan submitted that all possible measures had been taken by the Crime Branch to trace the missing girl, but to no avail.
In fact, the police were not able to conduct an effective investigation due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the past seven months. The investigation was still on. Being a case of missing of a girl of tender age, it was too early to make a decision in the matter of completion of investigation and file a report before the court as undetected.
The Crime Branch needs six more months to complete the probe, the government pleader submitted.
