Cherthala missing women case: Sebastian's friend Rosamma also under suspicion

CHERTHALA: C.M. Sebastian (68), currently in custody over the disappearance of multiple women, is continuing to maintain his innocence during questioning by investigators. Officials said Sebastian has consistently denied any involvement in the alleged murders. The probe team is awaiting the results of crucial DNA tests, which are expected to play a key role in the investigation. With his custody period coming to an end, Sebastian will be presented before the Ettumanoor court today.

Meanwhile, Sebastian’s former friend Rosamma, a native of Sasthamkavala in Cherthala, is also under suspicion. Yesterday, the investigation team, with the help of experts from the Geological Research Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, conducted a search using ground-penetrating radar at the houses of both Sebastian and Rosamma. During the search at Sebastian’s home, officials recovered a charred watch dial believed to belong to Jayanamma, a woman missing from Ettumanoor, along with pieces of rubber slippers. The search is being carried out by the State Crime Branch, which is investigating the disappearance of Bindu Padmanabhan.

The radar, which can detect unusual objects up to ten metres underground, picked up suspicious signals at nine locations on the southern side of Sebastian’s house and three locations on the northeastern side.

Later in the evening, police also searched the backyard of Rosamma’s old poultry farm in Sasthamkavala. Rosamma was a neighbour and friend of Hayrumma (Ayesha), one of the missing women. Police found that Rosamma was close to Sebastian at the time of Ayesha’s disappearance in 2013. The areas where the radar detected signals in her shed have now been cordoned off by the police.