KONDOTTY: Ranjith K K, the Leading Air Craftsman (LAC) of Indian Air Force arrested for passing information to Pakistan intelligence agency ISI, had mentioned about his friendship with a British girl whom he met on facebook to the family but he was not aware of her real intention, his close relative told Express on Wednesday.
“In fact, he had once said the girl had threatened him on some issue. He was constantly in touch with the girl through Facebook chats and used to converse with her on his mobile phone while he was on leave in September when he caught jaundice,” said Sukesh, his cousin brother, when ‘Express’ caught up with him at Ranjith’s residence at Siyankandam, Cherukavu here.
The relative said they were not aware of any money transaction which had allegedly taken place between Ranjith and the girl identified as Damini McNaught.
“As far as we know, he has only one bank account with SBI, Ramanattukara where his salary gets credited. His mother knows how much money comes to the account. The police can check all our accounts to ascertain whether we have received any unaccounted money,” he said.
Ranjith joined the Indian Air Force in 2010 while doing his graduation. He had in fact participated in the Republic Day parade this year and was into sports mainly swimming in the Force.
“We are sure that he will not commit such an offence if he was aware of it. The family is dependent on him and only a year ago, he took a loan to construct a house. The family still owes me `9,500 for the glass panels which I supplied,” said S Pithambaran, Ranjith’s neighbour and family friend.
According to his family, Ranjith spoke to his mother last week and mentioned about a training programme which he was going to attend. “But on Monday, an officer who has a Tamil slang rang up his mother on her mobile phone and said that Ranjith has been suspended from service and that he would tell the details once he reached home,” the family said.