While most of Chennai was reeling in the aftermath of the devastating floods, a story of a family in the neighbourhood of Pattinapakkam largely escaped attention. On the night of December 6, A Asokan, a former MLA and a member of Tamil Nadu’s ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, allegedly fired his .22 revolver at his wife Hema Asokan. He was arrested a few days later.
Asokan is a two-time legislator of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam from Tiruvarur assembly constituency. He joined the rival AIADMK in 2006 when he was denied candidacy.
His wife, Hema Asokan, said she had returned home on December 6 after a long day spent distributing tea and biscuits to the flood-affected in Kotturpuram. Asokan’s office assistant Satish had accompanied Hema to help her with the relief effort.
“My husband knew that I was taking Satish along to help me out,” Hema said. “He is only a young fellow. My husband went out at 4pm and returned at 9.30pm. I had reached just a little earlier and had gone inside the house to feed a stray dog that I had adopted. Satish had left the house just as my husband was coming upstairs.”
Hema said that Asokan hit his assistant at the bottom of the stairs in a drunken fury. “I found out about that later, I did not know it at the time,” she said. “He came upstairs screaming obscenities. He was drunk. He fired at me but luckily missed.” His 16-year-old daughter called the police alerting them of a domestic tiff gone sour.
The First Information Report was filed, but not on December 6. Tamil Nadu police officers said word was sent up the hierarchy that a VIP politician of the ruling party had fired bullets. In response, the concerned policeman was instructed to hold off from filing an FIR, the police officers claimed.
Need for a revamp?
“We were instructed not to take Asokan to the police station since the media would get wind of it,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity. “He was taken to another location and two shadow policemen were left to guard him.”
Hema’s family confirms that the FIR was not lodged immediately. Initially, she too did not want to file a case. However, bullets had been fired, even if from a licensed revolver, and the police could not let this one slide.
“Asokan was kept in custody without filing an FIR until December 8, although it was dated as December 6,” said the officer who requested anonymity. “Senior officers reluctantly agreed to let the FIR be filed only after we insisted.”
By December 7, though, the shadow policemen guarding Asokan at an undisclosed location were mysteriously called back, said the officer. Asokan got away. “It was shocking to us,” said the officer. “None of us expected that such a thing would happen.”
The media, busy covering the relief and rescue in the aftermath of the floods, missed the development. On December 10, Asokan was finally remanded to custody by the police. His wife found out about his arrest the next day.
Both the director general of police and the city police commissioner did not reply to text messages for comment. Calls to them were not answered.
The Tamil Nadu police have been under fire recently due to allegations of senior officers harassing their juniors to break the law. In September, the suicide of a young Deputy Superintendent of Police, Vishnupriya, prompted a debate on the need to make over the politicised police force.
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Asokan is a two-time legislator of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam from Tiruvarur assembly constituency. He joined the rival AIADMK in 2006 when he was denied candidacy.
His wife, Hema Asokan, said she had returned home on December 6 after a long day spent distributing tea and biscuits to the flood-affected in Kotturpuram. Asokan’s office assistant Satish had accompanied Hema to help her with the relief effort.
“My husband knew that I was taking Satish along to help me out,” Hema said. “He is only a young fellow. My husband went out at 4pm and returned at 9.30pm. I had reached just a little earlier and had gone inside the house to feed a stray dog that I had adopted. Satish had left the house just as my husband was coming upstairs.”
Hema said that Asokan hit his assistant at the bottom of the stairs in a drunken fury. “I found out about that later, I did not know it at the time,” she said. “He came upstairs screaming obscenities. He was drunk. He fired at me but luckily missed.” His 16-year-old daughter called the police alerting them of a domestic tiff gone sour.
The First Information Report was filed, but not on December 6. Tamil Nadu police officers said word was sent up the hierarchy that a VIP politician of the ruling party had fired bullets. In response, the concerned policeman was instructed to hold off from filing an FIR, the police officers claimed.
Need for a revamp?
“We were instructed not to take Asokan to the police station since the media would get wind of it,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity. “He was taken to another location and two shadow policemen were left to guard him.”
Hema’s family confirms that the FIR was not lodged immediately. Initially, she too did not want to file a case. However, bullets had been fired, even if from a licensed revolver, and the police could not let this one slide.
“Asokan was kept in custody without filing an FIR until December 8, although it was dated as December 6,” said the officer who requested anonymity. “Senior officers reluctantly agreed to let the FIR be filed only after we insisted.”
By December 7, though, the shadow policemen guarding Asokan at an undisclosed location were mysteriously called back, said the officer. Asokan got away. “It was shocking to us,” said the officer. “None of us expected that such a thing would happen.”
The media, busy covering the relief and rescue in the aftermath of the floods, missed the development. On December 10, Asokan was finally remanded to custody by the police. His wife found out about his arrest the next day.
Both the director general of police and the city police commissioner did not reply to text messages for comment. Calls to them were not answered.
The Tamil Nadu police have been under fire recently due to allegations of senior officers harassing their juniors to break the law. In September, the suicide of a young Deputy Superintendent of Police, Vishnupriya, prompted a debate on the need to make over the politicised police force.
