Vishnu Babu, a 25-year-old sailor from Alappuzha, went missing on July 17 while working on a merchant ship. Despite filing complaints with Union and State authorities, his family has received no response or support.
Alappuzha: The family of Vishnu Babu, a 25-year-old sailor from Alappuzha who went missing while working on a merchant ship last month, will file a habeas corpus petition before the Kerala High Court for assistance in locating him. Babu, a trainee wiper on the SSI Resolute, went missing on July 17, 2024, as the vessel traversed the Strait of Malacca en route from Odisha to China. The family seeks a court directive compelling the government to take action to find him.
According to Babu Thirumala, Vishnu's father, the family's multiple pleas to Union and State authorities have yielded no concrete results, leaving them without any progress in finding his missing son.
"After lodging complaints with multiple officials, including a Union Minister, we've been met with complete indifference. With no government official even offering a reassuring phone call, we've lost confidence in the system. That's why we're seeking the High Court's intervention to uncover the truth about Vishnu's disappearance," Babu Thirumala stated.
The family also alleges that after filing a complaint with Union Minister Suresh Gopi, they did not even get a reply.
KC Venugopal MP, Shobha Surendran, H Salam MLA and others visited the house, but the state ministers themselves have not yet intervened in the matter.
According to the family, Vishnu's last contact with his parents, Babu and Sindhu, was just hours before he disappeared. Fearing he may have fallen into the sea, a search operation was carried out under the direction of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Malaysia. After 96 hours, the search was discontinued. The ship's crew was interrogated by Singaporean police but was eventually released without any charges.