KOCHI: Almost two days after he had mysteriously disappeared , forcing his anxious wife to lodge a ‘missing person’ police petition, Ernakulam Central station circle inspector V.S Navas was traced to Karur in Tamil Nadu in the early hours of Saturday .
According to reports, he was identified by a Malayali Railway Protection Force (RPF) official posted at Madurai railway station. He had gone incommunicado after a heated exchange with a senior official over wireless on Wednesday night.
A call received by Thrikkakara Assistant Commissioner Stuart Keelar around 3.15 a.m. provided a breakthrough in the case that had the entire police machinery in a fix.
“I received a call from a police official stating that one of his friends with RPF posted at Madurai railway station had identified the officer. After verifying that the person was indeed the officer concerned, by sending a photo there, a police team from Palakkad was sent to Madurai. Besides, a team from Kochi has been sent to Palakkad to bring the officer here,” Mr. Keelar told The Hindu .
The officer will be quizzed about his disappearance once he is brought here. It is learnt that Mr. Navas had approached RPF official Sunil Kumar at Madurai station around 2 a.m. seeking assistance for travel to Coimbatore and he was guided to the Nagercoil-Coimbatore Express.
It was after sending the officer on his way that Sunil Kumar, originally from Idukki, wondered if that person was the missing policeman from Kerala. Once he confirmed it by checking the WhatsApp alert about Mr. Navas, the information was passed on to an acquaintance in Idukki. Fortunately, he was able to recollect the exact coach that the officer had boarded.
This helped Tamil Nadu RPF officials to trace him and subsequently, Mr. Navas was made to detrain at Karur.
The Ernakulam South Police had registered a person missing case following a petition lodged by the inspector’s wife on Thursday. He had gone incommunicado since 6.15 a.m. on Thursday when he had switched off both his mobile phones after sending a WhatsApp message to his wife stating that he was going on a journey.
The officer’s wife had told the media on Friday that harassment and pressure from senior officers had led to the disappearance of her husband.
