Suffering from memory loss and deported after decades in Kuwait, Bengaluru man turns up in Kochi, then goes missing

On Tuesday, his son Santon Lama filed a habeas corpus petition in the High Court, which has asked the Kerala Police to respond.

Suraj Lama was in the hotel business in Kuwait but his family lived in Bengaluru. According to the petition, on August 31, a friend of Lama’s informed the family that he had suffered “alcohol poisoning” in Kuwait and had been admitted to a hospital. They were further informed that Lama appeared to have developed partial memory loss and speech impairment, and that he was unable to recall or say his name properly.

Two weeks later, the family was informed that Lama had been taken into custody by Kuwaiti authorities after his discharge from the hospital. He was subsequently transferred to a deportation centre, and on October 7, the friend shared with the family a photograph of an air ticket, which revealed that Lama had been deported from Kuwait via Jazeera Airways on October 4 and that he was sent to Kochi.

On getting to know that Lama was sent to Kochi and not Bengaluru, the family filed a missing person complaint at the Kochi airport police station on October 8.

His son learnt from the driver of a Kochi Metro feeder bus that a disoriented man, who was later identified as Lama, had to be persuaded to get off the bus at Aluva metro station. On the same day, he was spotted in front of a house in the Thrikkakara area near Kochi, around 12 km from Aluva. Upon being alerted by local people, police took Lama into custody on the same day.

His son said he had seen images of his father being taken to the Government Medical College Hospital at Kalamassery in Kochi on October 10. “CCTV footage from the hospital showed that he walked out of the hospital 20 minutes after being admitted there,” the son, Santon Lama, said.

Santon explained that he also made efforts on social media to help trace his father, and that on October 19, an auto driver claimed to have spotted him four days earlier near Kalamassery.

Meanwhile, the Pravasi Legal Cell (PLC) has urged the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to initiate an investigation into the disappearance of Suraj Lama.

The cell said Lama, who had been undergoing treatment in a hospital in Kuwait for memory loss and other medical conditions, was deported after his visa was not renewed due to his illness. “His family members were not informed about the deportation, and instead of being sent to Bengaluru, his hometown, he was deboarded at Kochi Airport. It remains a matter of grave concern how the person, who was reportedly in a disoriented condition, managed to clear immigration formalities and exit the airport carrying only his passport,” said Sudheer Thirunilath, a spokesperson of the Pravasi Legal Cell.