Engineering graduate lands in prison

CHENNAI: On Tuesday, Raghu's* entire family was at the district collectorate campus on Rajaji Salai where the advisory board for preventive detention gives an opportunity to family members to appear and argue against detention before it is taken to the next level.
On June 11, Raghu, a mechanical engineering graduate, went out to pick up his friend Saranraj but did not come home, says his family.It was only the next day that his father K Paranthamman, 49, a cab driver, and mother Shanthi realised that their son had been arrested in connection with the abduction of a local businessman for a ransom of Rs 2 crore. On July 7, he was booked under the Goondas Act, which will put him in prison with hardcore criminals for a minimum of a year without bail.
K Paranthamman, 49, a cab driver and his wife Shanthi residing near Old Washermenpet here are going through the worst crisis of their lives since the last couple of weeks. Their elder son Raghu*, a BE Mechanical Engineering graduate has been booked under the stringent Goondas Act on July 7.
As per the police version, Raghu, though educated, voluntarily chose the path of crime and is part of a gang of criminals wanted for extortion in north Chennai. G Prabhu, inspector of police, Tiruvottiyur, said all charges levelled against him were genuine. "Being educated does not mean that people will not become criminals. In this case, all of them are part of a gang headed a local gang leader Dhanasekharan. They are all hard-core criminals," he said. while his family including younger brother, a twelfth grader in the city vouch his innocence and ae running from pillar to post after they were informed that Raghu is being booked under the Goondas act that comes with a yearlong incarceration in close proximity of hard core criminals in prison.
"My son did not have a single case against him but now police have charged him in three cases. All of them were unsolved cases that were foisted on my son. Initially, police kept assuring us that he would be let out soon and he was just being questioned. But, they remanded him and added two more cases and now he is being booked under the Goondas Act," said Paranthamman.
On Tuesday the entire family was present at the rear end of the district collectorate campus on Rajaji Salai where the advisory board for preventive detention gives an opportunity to close family members or relatives to appear before it to try and argue against the detention before it is taken to the next level of petitioning the High Court against the charges. As per the family's version, Raghu was called out of his home to come and pick up his schoolmate Saranraj on June 11 at around 7.30 pm since Saranraj was unwell. But then they were intercepted by a police team and was reportedly taken into custody as they were reportedly found to be behaving in a suspicious manner. It was only by next day morning that the family realised that their son was arrested and booked in connection with the abduction of a local businessman for a ransom of Rs 2 crore.
" When we went to Tiruvottiyur police station we were initially told that they were just questioning him and if we co-operate with the police then our son will be released. But this never happened and he was remanded almost 10 days later," said Shanthi.
The real shocker was in the form of cases of attempted extortion, public nuisance and assault which paved way for invoking the Goondas Act against him. The family is still puzzled as one of the additional cases booked against him was that he along with his friends had created a ruckus and threatened people at a Biriyani stall on TH Road in Thangal near Tiruvottiyur and Raghu was also involved in another waylaying cases relates to an incident of waylaying registered on May 9 near Redhills in which the complainant said he was was unable to identify the assailants.
"My son was picked up on June 11 and infact his name was leaked out to a prominent evening newspaper as one of the people picked up for the crime on June 12 then how can he commit another crime on June 21 afternoon the day he was remanded to judicial custody. He was taken to the magistrate and asked not to contest anything that was being levelled against him and that is how the police managed to book him in that case," Paranthamman added.
The family also claimed that they were banking their entire hopes on Raghu and his career all this while and were extremely happy when he scored over 70 percent in his BE course without any arrears. Raghu was also gearing up for an interview with a major private company before his arrest.
* name changed on request