The Chennai special crime branch of the Central Bureau of Investigations is trying to trace a Malayali teacher, who went missing from the Maldives where she was employed, and her husband, who left their home in Hyderabad some time later.

The agency could not trace a Sri Lankan national with whom she is suspected to have left the Maldives.

Cheruvathoor Anitha Nair, 37, of Kalladipetta at Ongallur and C. Ramachandran of Kannadi village, both in Palakkad district, had been living at Nacharam in Hyderabad since 1991 with their son, Vineeth Nair.

Ms. Anitha was working at Johnson Grammar High School, Afsiguda, Hyderabad, before getting a job at Inguraidhoo School, Raa Inguraidhoo, Maldives, in January 2003.

She had come on leave in October 2003 and stayed with her husband and son in Hyderabad for a month. She visited relatives at Kannadi and left for the Maldives in December 2003 from the Thiruvananthapuram airport. All attempts by the family to contact her after that failed.

A case was filed at the Pattambi police station, which was later transferred to the Crime Branch and then to the CBI by the Kerala High Court.

The agency sources said that investigation showed Ms. Nair reaching the Maldives, along with other teachers from the State, but instead of going to her place of residence, she stayed at a hotel named Buruneege Residence of Frontline Maldives Private Ltd., Hithahfinivaa Magu, Henveiru, Maldives.

Sources said investigations showed that she knew one Sreerangan, also known as Surang, from Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka, who worked as a receptionist at the hotel. He had left for Sri Lanka in 2004.

A verification using the passport details and flight manifesto of Ms. Nair showed that she left the Maldives for Thiruvananthapuram the next day of reaching there and flew to Sri Lanka. She is also shown to have stayed there for 45 days. She returned to Chennai in July 2004. (Source: thehindu)