Shaji Purushothaman, a director of the Empee Group and prime accused in the high-profile Mercedes Benz accident case in which a 13-year-old boy died recently, flew to Thailand after the accident in a flight ticket booked by the business house.
This came to light after Empee Group chairman and Shaji’s father M P Purushothaman appeared before Anna Nagar Traffic Investigation for questioning as per the direction of the Madras High Court.
Purushothaman, accompanied by his advocate R C Paul Kanagaraj, appeared before Assistant Commissioner Saravanan, who is handling the case.
Shaji reportedly called up employees at the Empee Group and insisted on a ticket for Thailand, which was booked by the company. He travelled on that ticket to Thailand soon after to the accident.
Purushothaman told police that he came to know about Shaji’s visit to Thailand through his employees since he was not on talking terms with his son for the past three years.
Shaji was relieved as the MD of the company last year and the entire business is being looked after by Purushothaman’s daughter Nisha, who is the vice-chairperson of the Group.
“I will try my best to locate my son and advice him to hand himself over to police in the next few days,” Purushothaman reportedly told the investigating officer.
He also offered to cooperate with the probe team. The cops also gathered information about other family members and about the assets owned by Empee Group.
Details pertaining to list of cars being used by the Group was also sought and collected during the interrogation of Purushothaman.