CHENNAI: A month after he went missing, police have put up posters at various public places in the city promising a reward for any information that would help them trace activist Mugilan , who made his name during the anti-Sterlite protests last year.Mugilan was last seen on the night of February 15 at the Egmore railway station, where he boarded the Chennai-Madurai Mahal Express. He never made it to Madurai.CB-CID personnel have circulated pamphlets and put up posters at places where crowds gather in the city, including at Egmore and Chennai Central railway stations.The poster reads: ‘Police – CB-CID announcement; Missing – 15.02.2019 environment activist Mukilan came to Chennai Egmore railway station to board Chennai-Madurai Mahal Express train and then he disappeared. Information which helps to trace him will be honoured with a reward. Public can reach police officials on the mobile number 9962908908 or at 044-28513500.A police officer said, “We didn’t get any CCTV footage of Mugilan except him leaving the railway station when the train was parked at one of the platforms at Egmore on March 15.”Earlier that day, Mugilan had released a documentary film on last year’s Sterlite agitation in which 13 people were shot dead by the police after the protest turned violent on May 22, 2018. The documentary charged the police with deliberately planning the attack on protestors.When he went missing soon after, civil rights activists had expressed the fear that he had fallen foul of the police. They pointed out that the documentary had been critical of several high ranking police officers.The Government Railway police registered a case initially and later the case was transferred to the CB-CID for further investigations.Police sources with knowledge of the investigations said they suspect he never boarded the train and had just disappeared from the station. They said as roads were crowded at the time with people entering and leaving the railway station, Mugilan might have got into a vehicle and left without anyone noticing. They are hoping the promise of a reward could jog the memory of someone who could have seen him getting into a car or an autorickshaw at Egmore.An investigating officer said they hadn’t revealed the reward amount as it would depend on what an informant provided. Some associates of Mugilan claimed he had some personal issues, but others said this was just a canard spread to through people off track.

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