Missing producer's parents make emotional plea to CM

CHENNAI: The episode of missing film producer S Madhan, founder of Vendhar Movies, gets more and more curious with each passing day.
Madhan's family on Friday called a press conference to ask chief minister J Jayalalithaa to help trace the producer, who went missing in mysterious circumstances last Sunday. His mother R S Thangam circulated a letter her son purportedly wrote.
Saying their son was close to the SRM Group, though he didn't hold any administrative post, Thangam and her husband C Balakrishnan said they were worried about his disappearance and feared something was wrong.
The letter Madhan is supposed to have left behind said he was going to "attain 'samadhi' in Kasi". It also explained his role as an admission agent for the SRM Group.
Speculative reports that her son was, variously, absconding or that someone had kidnapped or murdered him had deeply disturbed her, Thangam said.
"I want my son alive," she said. "I am not ready to sacrifice him. We suspect a few people who did not like his closeness with the SRM Group were involved in his disappearance," Thangam said.
Cheating complaints against Madhan are inundating the Central Crime Branch police, but Thangam maintained her son was innocent.
On Madhan's proximity to the SRM Group, Thangam said, "My son was closely associated with the group and in fact worshipped its chairman T R Pachaimuthu."
Madhan openly claimed he handed over money for 102 seats to the group recently.
Madhan's family members had earlier approached Chennai police commissioner T K Rajendran. On Friday they filed a petition with CM's cell and a habeas corpus petition in the Madras high court.
Police said Madan faced losses as some projects Vendhar Movies had taken up didn't fare well and that NEET (common medical entrance test) confusion hit his medical admissions business.
SRM released a statement saying if at all SRM had any role in taking the money from students, the institution would have come forward to make clarifications in this regard. "We will never shy [from coming] forward in the interest of the students. But a person totally unconnected with the institutions is spreading the news. SRM has not collected any money from any parents regarding admissions," chancellor of SRM university Paarivendhar said.