Police register 9 'missing persons' complaints

Kasargode: The Kasargode police on Monday registered nine 'missing persons' complaints and formed a 27 member team led by a Deputy Superintendent of Police to look into the case of 17 persons said to be missing from the district, a police officer said.

The police were now verifying messages these missing people -- including men, women and children -- send to their families, Kasargode police chief Thompson Jose told IANS here.

Twenty-one people from Kerala -- 17 from Kasargode district and four from Pallakad district -- have been reported missing, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday told the assembly here. Earlier reports said the missing persons may have joined the Islamic State.

The nine complaints were registered after the relatives of the 17 persons reported the matter to police and showed various messages allegedly received on their mobile phones.

"Most messages we saw say the missing persons have reached the Islamic State. Most of these are on WhatsApp," Jose said, adding that police will now try to verify the authenticity of these messages.

"We will see from where these messages originated," the police officer said.

Meanwhile, the stepmother of two siblings reported missing from Palakkad along with their wives -- all of whom had converted to Islam -- told the media that one of her stepsons' friends is also missing.

Former Defence Minister A.K. Antony said only the Centre can tell the whereabouts of these missing Keralites.

"The newspaper reports are really worrying. It's not fair to blame any particular community. We are waiting to hear from the Centre on where these missing people are," Antony said.