Finally in Mumbay

The parents of Jean-Baptiste have arrived on sunday 22nd of November 2009 in Mumbai, this is their third visit in India since Jean-Baptiste has disapeared.

They will be meeting with the Indian and French police, to meet with the French police superintendent who has been sent to India to investigate.

This 3rd visit will be easier for them as Marie-Claire has been learning English and finally manages to go pass the language barrier. They are already starting laying posters, giving away flyers, and doing everything they can to find their missing son.

Their local phone number: 00919600515513

OPERATION ITINERANT QG

All-terrain vehicle scheme dedicated to Jean-Baptiste

In search of their son Jean-Baptiste, disappeared in India on the 5th of December 2007, the third visit to India of Pierre and Marie-Claire Talleu is being organised, based on their experience from previous visits.

India is a huge country, and we had our share of communication and accommodation troubles.

The alternative of a recreational vehicle, or rather an all-terrain equipped (or converted) van, set as a real QG touring, would be ideal. An idea is put forward….now we need to find the funds.

« We thought that travelling ourselves around India in a clearly visible vehicle would be the best means of communication. Indians are very curious and benevolent. The vehicle, preferably all-terrain, to be able to progress on the bad roads, with many large missing posters attached would attract itself press and TV wherever we go.

We could hand out leaflets in big quantities. Indian people ask for them and they listen attentively. They don’t throw them away but fold them and put carefully in their pockets. We have seen many people taking their mobile phones and adding the telephone number indicated on the leaflet to the contact list and taking picture of the Jean-Baptiste image.

The vehicle would need to be equipped at least with the minimum to allow sleeping inside. It is not necessary to have a real recreation vehicle. A solid car is needed, not at all luxurious that would draw attention only to the images of Jean-Baptiste.

Thus we would always have the communication with us and we would be exceptionally mobile and continuously visible, which is the aim of the search. It was the lack of mobility that bore upon us on our previous visits.

Veera, a Parsi friend who speaks English, French, Hindi and Marathi, offers to join us on a voluntary basis. She already proved herself a great helper during our meetings with the Mumbai Police.

While we can’t spend a whole year in India, we think that this vehicle dedicated to Jean-Baptiste should stay there and be available to whoever would accept take over this mission when we’re not there.

The French travellers we met often helped us and offered to take flyers with them.

We are convinced young travellers would be delighted to be able to discover India (often for a 6 month period, because of visa), in this useful vehicle dedicated in the search of Jean-Baptiste; or maybe students for their work experience in communication for example.

This project first formed on our last trip, where we faced difficult realities. But nothing is impossible when you really want it.

Thank you for helping us achieve this project for Jean-Baptiste.

Marie-Claire et Pierre Marie Talleu

The articles talk about!

Here is a list of articles that speak of Jean-Baptiste, are links to PDF documents.

May 2009 :
- Est Républicain

February 2009 :
- Journal Indien

December 2008 :
- Malai Matlar
- Press Club
- The New India Express
- Dina Thanti
- Malai Matlar

October 2008 :
- Pelerin Magazine

May 2008 :
- Nice Matin
- Est Républicain
- Times of India
- Nice Matin
- DNA

April 2008 :
- Est Républicain
- Times of India
- Times of india
- ONA

March 2008 :
- France Dimanche
- Aujourd'hui en France
- Le Figaro
- FPJ
- France Soir
- Est Républicain
- Le Républicain Lorrain

Press conference in February

Fifty-five-year old Marie Claire can barely hide her tears, while daughter Catherine cannot control them. Marie's son and Catherine's twin brother Jean-Baptiste Talleu has been missing for over a year now. The family had registered a complaint in December 2007.

"We often hope, but there has been no concrete news tracing him, the police told us," says Catherine.

Talleu, who would turn 27 this year, had set out on a world wide tour on his cycle in July 2007. He travelled through Europe, Iran, Dubai and was headed for Pondicherry via Mumbai before he disappeared.

Talleu had last called his mother from Dubai on December 2.

Marie and her husband Pierre have been putting up posters announcing a reward of Rs 2 lakh at various places for the past three months now. They have also travelled from Varkala in Kerala to New Delhi where Talleu was reportedly seen, but to no avail.

"We were disappointed, we believed the story of the man who called with information to be true," says Catherine.

The Claire family has even searched near Mumbai's Goregaon East area where he had last withdrawn money from an ATM. Though the French police hasn't been given permission to investigate Jean's disappearance in India, his parents are not giving up.

Catherine says, "We will stay back here and pursue the matter with the police."

Marie and Pierre hope to find their son alive some day, even if it means managing with whatever little English they know.

Jean-Baptiste's parents back in France

Jean-Baptiste's parents are back in France after 4 months spent in India looking for their son. Unfortunately their search was unfruitful despite the few leads and the help of many people in India.

A message from Jean-Baptiste's mother:

"Sorry for not updating for a while, I had a very bad internet connexion in India, I just read messages people left and want to thank them very much.
Unfortunately, the last lead was probably a fake, we were not able to get any real concrete information from the person, and after we'd gone to many hospices, (which ones the consulate had already checked) we found there were no signs of Jean-Baptiste.

Back in Mumbai, we were able to visit many of these religious hospices and talk to Indian nuns. It appeared obvious that none of them would keep a foreigner without contacting the consulate or the authorities.

Soon we'll be giving news from the press conference in Mumbai."

Marie-Claire Talleu.

Missionary hospice close to New Delhi : a new lead to find Jean-Baptiste

Jean-Batiste could have been seen in a Mother Teresa missionary hospice in New Delhi by a young man who visited the place volunteering. The french cyclist from the hospice had been robbed from his belongings and documents after an accident. The cyclist couldn't communicate with people as he appeared to have lost his mind.
Not long after, the young man saw "the missing JB advert" and recognized Jean-Baptiste, even though the cyclist from the hospice had his head shaved and a scar on his jaw. The young man informed us that he contacted Mumbai police, but he had impression of not being taken seriously. He then called in France but haven't succeeded because of language barrier.

One evening Pierre, the father of JB - who always wears a T-shirt with the picture of Jean-Baptiste - was approached by the same young man. He was informed of Mother Teresa hospice and possible lead.

We sent an email straight away to the embassy, who checked the lead the following day.
The witness couldn't remember the exact address therefore 7 Mother Teresa hospices were checked. The information couldn't have been confirmed in any of them.

We changed our plans (printing more posters) and we decided to leave Varkala and go up North, while visiting few ashrams. We should be in Mumbai around 15th February.
This new lead gave us so much hope we were ready to jump on the first plane to New Delhi.

Unfortunately, the witness is not able to remember the exact address. He is trying to contact his friend who visited the hospice with him to find out the addresse. The young man says he will be ready to come to New Delhi with us if his work allows him to.
He is not interested by the reward and his lifestyle allows us to believe this.

We are trying to be more patient, but it is difficult. We can't accept that this person may not be saying the truth. Our decission is taken, we will go to New Delhi in the middle of next week after visiting Amma's ashram at Amritapuri. We want Amma to know about Jean-Baptiste disparition.

We really hope we will be able to give good news soon.

Marie-Claire

More news on the petition

On Monday 12th of January 2009, Mr Jacquemin (mayor of Villers) and Féron (deputy of Meurthe et Moselle) met the Indian Embassador's right hand in Paris, to give all the petitions written and from the Internet.

Also, a file concerning Jean-Baptiste's disparition will be given to the French President (Mr Sarkozy) by Nadine Morano, (Deputy of Meurthe et Moselle).

The family of Jean-Baptiste is very thankfull to the help given by so many people around.

The petition is still available to sign online: http://www.petitiononline.com/ajb51207/petition.html



Jean-Baptiste's parents are still on their way to Kerala. They are still getting informations from people that an European cyclist went this way. Could it be Jean-Baptiste?