4 missing women in Kerala have one thing in common — a connection to a wealthy 68-year-old

Jain, known as Jainamma, had gone missing from her house on December 23 last year. The police investigation into her disappearance had remained inconclusive.

Just two weeks ago, there was a breakthrough in the case when a member of Jainamma’s family got a call from the missing woman’s mobile number. Police tracked the location from where the call was made to a hilly region in Kottayam and found that Sebastian, who had never figured in the probe until then, was using the phone connection. Police also found that the phones of Jainamma and Sebastian were under the same mobile tower several times before she went missing.

On July 30, Sebastian, who comes from a traditionally wealthy family, was arrested after police recovered charred parts of a human body from a pit located within his two acres of land.

An officer with the Crime Branch in Kottayam said, “We have recorded his arrest related to the disappearance of Jainamma. He confessed to the murder. He had known the woman for several years. Sebastian’s in-laws lived at Ettumanoor in Kottayam. The recovered body parts are those of a woman. At the same time, a final confirmation about the identity of the victim will be made only after the DNA results are available.” The officer also alleged that Sebastian had pawned her gold jewellery.

3 other missing women

Sebastian’s arrest suddenly revived investigations into the disappearance of Bindu Padmanabhan in 2006, Aysha in 2012 and Sindhu in 2020 — all from Alappuzha district. On Monday, police brought Sebastian to his house in Alappuzha for further investigation.

While Bindu, the daughter of a late retired Excise officer, had been reportedly missing since 2006, her family in Kadakkarappally filed a missing complaint only in 2017. This, according to officials, was because she lived separately and was estranged from her family.

After the complaint was filed, police said they found that Sebastian had forged fake land documents to sell a property owned by Bindu in Kochi. Police recovered forged documents pertaining to the woman, such as a school certificate, from Sebastian’s house. Sebastian was then arrested for forgery, along with others including document writers. However, the probe at the time did not find a link between him and Bindu’s disappearance. In a further grim twist in that case, an auto driver died allegedly by suicide just days after being questioned in connection with the forgery.

Another missing woman, Aysha from Varanad in Alappuzha, had been found to be in touch with Sebastian before she went missing in 2012, police said. According to them, the woman, who was in her early 50s when she went missing, knew Sebastian as a middleman in land dealings. Her missing case also did not make much headway.

Sindhu (43), who lived under Arthunkal police limits in Alappuzha, had gone missing five years ago after she went to a local temple. She had previously separated from her husband, and disappeared in September 2020, days before her daughter’s engagement. Police sources said the probe into that disappearance had revealed that Sebastian allegedly used to target women living alone to take possession of their money and gold through fraudulent means.

Aneesh, a neighbour of Sebastain, said, “His arrest is a shock for us. In recent years, he was not regularly at the house. He had very pleasing manners and used to impress people through his behaviour and conversation.”