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Kochi, Oct 25 (IANS) The Kerala High Court on Saturday ordered the Police Commissioner to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to trace Suraj Lama, who has been missing since October 5 after reaching Kochi from Kuwait.
A division bench of Justices Devan Ramachandran and MB Snehalatha was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by his son Santon Lama, seeking immediate action to trace his father.
During the proceedings, the division bench verbally assured that every possible effort would be made to trace the missing person.
The bench remarked, “Now we want to trace him, we have to trace him. Whatever it may be, we have to trace him… We now want complete information through the embassy.”
S. presented by the Directorate of Security and Government Investigation (DSGI). Krishna informed the court that Suraj Lama has been sent back to India on emergency certificate possibly due to lost passport or other reasons for deportation, and sought a week’s time to submit complete details.
The government lawyer said that despite all efforts, Lama has not been traced yet.
Petitioner’s lawyer Parvati Menon alleged that the authorities were not acting with the promptness usually required in such cases.
The Court refrained from making objectionable comments, but stressed that a special team under the Commissioner of Police, headed by an officer of the rank of Deputy Commissioner, should immediately take over the investigation.
The Court directed that all proceedings and updates be presented during the next listing and stressed that “every possible effort should be made by the competent authorities to ensure that he is traced”.
According to the petition, Suraj Lama, a longtime hotelier in Kuwait, had gone missing after not being contacted for some time.
Lama’s friends in Kuwait have informed his family that he was hospitalized due to alcohol poisoning and was suffering from partial memory loss and speech impairment.
He was later shifted to a deportation centre, and a photograph of a flight ticket showing his travel from Kuwait to Kochi on October 5 prompted the family to file a complaint at the Nedumbassery police station.
Despite independent inquiries, media coverage and the intervention of the Kerala State Legal Services Authority (KLSA), Lama was not found.
–IANS
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