Jean-Baptiste Talleu, young French cyclist, 27 yrs old, 1m80, former scout leader, who used to work as a graphic web designer in Nancy, left France on 18 July 2007 to cycle around the world. No news from him since his arrival in Mumbai, India, on 4 December 2007. Jean-Baptiste had been informing his family about the stages of his trip via the Internet on a regular basis. Contact: mctalleu@gmail.com +33 (0) 635 278 430 (mobile) or +33(0) 383 406 584 (landline) Indian no: 00919600515513
Thursday 3 December 2009
CONSULAT GÉNÉRAL DE FRANCE À BOMBAY
MISSING
Jean-Baptiste Talleu
Still no information on Jean-Baptiste Talleu!
The disappearance of Mr. Jean-Baptiste Talleu, a French citizen, who was last seen on 5th December 2007 in Mumbai is a mystery.
The recent intervention by the French police allowed for the viewing of the effort put in by the Indian police but unfortunately still no trail nor clue that would help solve the mystery of his disappearance.
A description of Mr. Jean-Baptiste Talleu has been put up on the websites of the Embassy and the Consulates General of France in India, as well as at all the Alliances Françaises in order to facilitate the search and enable any person who might have any information whatsoever in this regard, to come forward. A website is dedicated entirely to him: www.jbtalleu.com
We make an appeal once more to all persons likely to have any useful information on him. The parents of Jean-Baptiste Talleu want to relay this appeal directly to the media and on the eve of the 2nd anniversary of his disappearance, talk about their project that would help them continue their search for him, and should the need arise, also help other isolated people travelling in India.
I request you to kindly be present for the press conference organised on:
4th December, 2009 at 11 am The Alliance française de Bombay, Theosophy Hall, 40 New Marine Lines, Mumbai 400 020.
RSVP: Ms. Snehal Agrawal Sharma Deputy Press Attaché Consulate General of France in Bombay 7th flr., Hoechst House, Nariman Point. Tél: 022 6669 4026/ 98 69 05 19 25 Mél: snehal.agrawal@diplomatie.gouv.fr
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.
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.
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 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."
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.
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?
The large spiritual place of which we had been informed with conviction on a few occasions by potential witnesses was our greatest hope. Two testimonies informed that Jean Baptiste was there or stayed there. We have spent one week in this place trying to get to know its spirituality in order to better understand what could have attracted Jean Baptiste: exploration of the sage Ramana, the Arunachala mountain hermit, walking around the holy mountain Arunachala (14 km), together with all the pilgrims, and there were many of them at the time of celebrations around the full moon. We have been going to the temple during the prayers two times a day, with the hope to meet Jean-Baptiste, The temple attended non only by the Indians, but also by many Europeans, not lost – as we had been told, but in the search of the direction and spirituality.
Many of the Europeans have helped us in distribution of the “missing person” posters and in understanding the place. The last day, while climbing the mountain until the place where Ramana had lived, several monks have told us: “he came here, but long ago. Probably around march. He wasn’t talkative, we didn’t talk”. All of this can appear to be convincing: February in Varkala, beginning of March in Pondichery, later in March in Tiruvannamalai situated 100 km from Pondy. But any proof in all of this? None…. It could be just someone who looks like JB.
Yesterday again, this young girl from « coffee.com » in Pondy, who told us « yes, it’s Jean-Baptiste, I have met him, he used to take an espresso every day, but now I don’t know where he is». I have to say that it’s an account that puzzled me the most…. With her assurance, as if it was evidence…. One more time no luck, registers have been only kept since 1 August 2008, following a series of terrorist acts. We haven’t really made any progress. Even if it is Jean-Baptiste, where is he now? What does he live off? Why doesn’t he live like before?
It’s been one year now that the concern took hold of us and hasn’t let go since then.
We have been waiting for any news from Jean-Baptiste, especially for festive periods, and these news have never come. During the first days of January 2009 the certainty that something bad had happened to JB worried us a lot. We have warned the authorities. And we were right.
It‘s been one year since the questions, assumptions, hope has always been followed by disappointment. It doesn’t leave us undisturbed.
We have progressed very little, not to say - not at all, in spite of two travels to India.
The first to BOMBAY, in May 2008, has revealed nothing of what has happened to JB. His name hasn’t been found anywhere. Where did he sleep the night of the 4th of December? Nobody has seen him. We could have doubted that he actually arrived in Bombay, if not the two cash withdrawals the 5th December 2008 that required typing the PIN code. And his immigration form, the only document produced by the Indian police.
Since our first travel to India we wanted to leave the Indian authorities the time to give authorisation for French police to come to India in order to investigate the case with Indian police. We have been waiting for the agreement of the Indian minister of the interior to execute the rogatory commitee of inquiry. Unfortunately nothing appears to progress.
The aim of the travel was to search for Jean-Baptiste alive, who would not really be himself to live without money and be in an irregular situation, his visa being expired since 4th March 2008.
We didn’t choose our route at random. It has been set for us for the months passing, after several accounts for which we have no doubt of a good faith of the witnesses:
- first of all in GOA, a beggar of European origins had been reported by a witness who believed to recognise JB from the website. After the inquiry it turned out it was a Russian who is being kept in a mental hospital at the since then. But we never were allowed to see his picture.
- following « faits divers le mag » broadcast of May 2008, a french-indian couple was struck by the resemblance of Jean-Baptiste’s picture shown on screen with an individual who intrigued them on three or four occasions on the VARKALA beach, Kerala. He had been on a European bike the last time they had seen him. It was probably in February.
- finally in June, an e-mail from a traveller reports the presence of Jean-Baptiste, or someone alike, at the « Raj Lodge » hostel, Rangapouillé street, PONDICHERY on the 4th of March 2008. The name of the traveller appears on the hostel register, but unfortunately not the name of JB. In the general opinion it doesn’t exclude completely the presence of JB in this hostel. Particularly since in the hostel it was also the bicycle that intrigued the traveller.
We hoped that these leads would allow us to rule out the criminal theory in Bombay and spare us searching this city again.
As we decided to start our awareness action with the last of the leads, that is Pondichery, we are here for another few days. We also knew JB had 2 addresses in Pondichery.
Staying in a region where people speak French and the roads have still names seemed to us to be more simple and less disorientating. Our poor knowledge of English has prevented us from taking action for a long time. We were able to print one thousand self-adhesive tracts and one thousand flyers coated with plastic, in English and Tamul, hundred twenty T-shirts, red and white, in all the sizes, with a picture of JB, hoping not to let the information about his disappearance die off. It’s just on the Christmas Eve that we have been in possession of all those materials.
The 5th of December 2008 we were able to carry out a press conference in order to draw attention. And in fact, few days after we received a phone call from the consulate: a journalist had been locked up in a church with a troubled European. Perhaps Jean-Baptiste? Hope, suspense, disappointment. There was a bright side – press conference was bringing the results. People knew that JB had gone missing. It wasn’t the case a few days before.
There is definitely a media coverage job to do, but it’s a huge job. Why the authorities don’t take care of this, for better effectiveness? People reported after learning from the media about disappearance. They couldn’t then report at the moment when they saw him.
In fact, is he really being searched for? No! Only by ourselves. His disappearance doesn’t affect anyone unfortunately.
Our long stay in Pondichery wasn’t useless. It helped us familiarize ourselves with India, the country that took away our son and which seemed to us so frightening and hostile. It allowed us to make friends, Indian as well as French, approach the social activities in cities, sponsor a little girl, discover Ashrams, Hindu and Christians and the kindness of the Indian population.
We have questioned lots of people, shown over and again the missing person poster, experienced hope and disappointment; because we were being told sever times that JB came to Pondichery. We don’t have any piece of evidence of it.
One year after, the same questions from the beginning are still on our heads.
