Kollam: Fathima Beevi, who is ninety-one years old, believed, like the rest of her family, that her eldest son Sajaad Thangal (70) perished in a 1976 plane crash. After 45 years, he has finally returned to Beevi’s loving hands on Saturday evening.
The reunion became a party in their home, Padanilathu Thekkathil, Venga, Mainagappally Sasthamcotta, with friends and family in attendance.
Sajaad, who had travelled to the UAE by ship in 1971, flew back to Mumbai in 1996. Because there was no information about him after that, his family assumed he perished in the plane disaster in which south Indian star Ranichandra was also killed.
Sajaad was a member of a team that organised a Ranichandra stage play in the Gulf and he was concerned that he would be named as a suspect in the plane crash investigation.
After the organisers didn’t make much money from the stage play, Ranichandra gave them a print of one of her films and he was requested to accompany her to Madras to collect it. However, Sudhakaran, his buddy, was the one who escorted her.
Following the accident, Sajaad said that he fell into depression. He arrived at Zeal Ashram in Panavel, near Mumbai, two years ago. Last Monday, ashram authorities in Sathamcotta identified his relatives and handed him over to his younger brothers Muhammed Kunju, Abdul Rasheed and nephew Salim.
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Because of the affection and attention he received at the ashram, Sajaad stated that he was able to return home and see his mother. ‘I cannot describe how good they were,’ he added.
Sajaad’s extended disappearance, on the other hand, remains a mystery, given there were widespread rumours of sabotage surrounding Ranichandra’s death at that time.
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