Bangalore: A month ago, they fell in love. On Wednesday evening, a speeding train sent their bodies tumbling into a nearby drain. The bodie...
Bangalore: A month ago, they fell in love. On Wednesday evening, a speeding train sent their bodies tumbling into a nearby drain. The bodies of Jumana Hussain, 19, a firstyear engineering student at MVJ Engineering College, Whitefield, and Naveen Joseph, 22, a Master in Tourism Administration student of KLE College, Malleswaram, were found on Thursday morning. They were walking on the railway track under Marathahalli bridge to his uncle’s home.
Jumana, who hails from Kerala, joined the college here this year. Six months ago, her classmate Sharath from Kerala introduced her to his cousin Naveen, also from Wayanad, Kerala. Over the past month, Naveen went from Malleswaram after his classes to Whitefield to meet Jumana. Friends suspect foul play
Around 6.30pm on Wednesday, Naveen took a lift from his friend Jois to Marathahalli bridge, where Jumana had come for tuition classes. He told Joyce he’d be going to Sharath’s house at Kundalalli Gate by walking on the track.
After a while, Jois called Naveen to ask where he was. Twice, Naveen said he’d reach with Jumana in 10 minutes. The third time, someone else answered and spoke in Kannada. Since Jois couldn’t understand the language, he disconnected immediately.
When Naveen and Jumana didn’t turn up as expected, Jois and Sharath informed her parents. They informed the police and started searching along the track. Around 7.30am on Thursday, someone noticed two bodies in a ditch by the track.
Both had blood clots on their faces and waists and their clothes were torn. Railways DySP Arif Ali said they may have been crossing the track and hit by a train. “Barring the blood clots, there are no external injuries on both bodies,’’ he said. However, Jois and Sharath suspect foul play. Naveen’s brother Nithin, in his statement to the police, suspects someone had murdered them.
“Through the night, we searched along the track and did not find the bodies. We kept calling Naveen’s mobile phone. It was ringing, but no one answered,’’ Jois said. Jois is apprehensive about his third call to Naveen. “How can someone pick up his phone if it was an accident? We suspect they were kidnapped and murdered and the bodies dumped in the drain,” he said.
SMS TIP-OFF
A family friend of Naveen and Jumana said the girl had been given an add-on SIM card, which she shared with her mother. “There’s a provision that if the SIM card is removed from one phone, the other would get an SMS. Around 4am on Thursday, Jumana’s mother received such an SMS,’’ he added.
DySP Arif Ali said he had noted all their apprehensions. “The preliminary investigation suggests it was an accident. We also recovered both mobile phones which were intact. We’ll verify call details. The investigation will continue after the post-mortem report,” he added.
According to their friends, Naveen lost his father a few years ago and his brother Nitin was studying in Bangalore.
Jumana was born and brought up in Qatar and studied there till Class X, before moving to Chennai. Her father Hussain worked in a multi-national bank and was transferred to Bangalore a year ago.
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