Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala police have announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh for anyone who would provide a clue to locate college student Jesna Mariya James, 20, who disappeared from Erumely over 50 days ago.

DGP Loknath Behera said information should be passed on to the Thiruvalla DySP who is heading a 15-member special police team in search of Jesna. The DySP can be contacted on phone number 94979 90035.

The police team, which had travelled to Bengaluru and Mysuru in search of Jesna, has come back empty-handed as all indications of people having spotted the second-year degree student of St Dominic's College, Kanjirapally, proved useless. She had disappeared on March 22 after travelling to her paternal aunt's house in Mukkoottuthara, Erumeli.

A few people in Bengaluru had reportedly claimed that a woman similar to Jesna was spotted along with a long-haired youth from Thrissur at the Aswasa Bhavan at Dhamaram near the Karnataka capital, and also at Nimhans hospital in the city. However, Vadasserikkara circle inspector M I Shaji said examination of CCTV visuals at these places disproved those claims.

None of the Nimhans staff members to whom the police team showed Jesna's photos could remember having seen her. The inspector said a native of Poovarani, however, stood firm in his claim that he had seen Jesna at the ashram in Dharmaram.

Meanwhile, a parallel investigation is on in Thrissur as well, since the youth allegedly found with Jesna is a native of the area. The police got information that he alone uses the cell phone, and hope to trace him from the tower location. The search in Mysuru was carried out after reports that Jesna and the youth had travelled to that city. The special police team is working in three different groups.

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