Ageing couple pines for son in Japanese jail
KASARGOD: The two-storey house looks imposing from the road, a mix of old-fashioned grandeur and wood carvings. But it also looks vacated. Inside, it is a mouldy mess. Kumaran P V, 71, a former autorickshaw driver, and his wife K V Lakshmi, 64, stay in the house at Adukkathuparamba in Madikai panchayat. But they have stopped living 10 years ago. Like the mould, their existence is superficial.
The house was in the finishing stage, when their youngest son, Mahendra Kumar, 40, was arrested and jailed for attempt to murder of four persons in Japan for 12 years. Their second son V K Venugopal, who went to Japan on a visiting visa to secure his release, is overstaying there. “He says he will not return without Mahendra. Now he is forced to do odd jobs clandestinely to eke out a living,” she says. The ailing couple hasn’t seen their two sons for the past 10 years. The family maintains Kumar did not get a fair trial. “He was framed by his rivals and they usurped his business,” she says.
Mahendra was running an Indian restaurant, Himalaya, in Ibaraki, and was about to start the second one, when he got in conflict with the law, she says. “It was an Easter Sunday, I remember,” she says.
According to his mother, Kumar was at home when he was called by his friends saying they were being assaulted by another group of Malayalees, on March 23, 2008.
“He reached there to mediate but found both sides were armed and were at each other. But when the police came, all scooted, except for four persons who were injured,” she says.
He was about to open the second hotel when fate played a cruel joke
Mahendra Kumar was charged with attempt to murder of the four persons. “He was branded the gang leader too. But no one else was even arrested. So, where is the gang?” asks his mother Lakshmi. In the court, he was not properly represented and he was sentenced to 12 years in jail, not counting the time he spent in jail as an undertrial.
Till two years ago, Lakshmi used to go to Delhi and meet the Union ministers, and even President Pratibha Rao Patil to secure the release of Kumar, who is lodged a prison at Tochigi district, 100 km from Tokyo.
“She did not do anything for us. Now once in a while, I talk to Karunakaran ettan,” she says, referring to the Lok Sabha member, who helps them meet political leaders in Delhi. The ailing parents are on the verge of losing their home. Kumaran has chronic diabetes and serious foot problems while Lakshmi is a heart patient. “We are living in fear of dying without seeing our son,” she says.
When contacted over WhatsApp video call, Venugopal, who lives in Ibaraki, says the Japanese prison authorities were willing to allow Mahendra serve the rest of the sentence in India. “The officials told me since he has served three-fourths of the sentence, there is provision for him to serve the rest of the time in an Indian prison,” he says.
The prison authorities have forwarded the papers to the Indian embassy. “If India agrees, Mahendra will be home in six months,” he says. Yet, the embassy officials reportedly told Indians who represented Kumar there was no such treaty with Japan, reducing his chances for an early release. Mahendra Kumar, who is 40 years, spent more than half his life in Japan. He left home on a visiting visa when he was 19 years old. He overstayed and worked there for 10 years.“He managed to get a proper job visa and came home for a month’s holiday in February 2008,” says Lakshmi.
While returning, Kumar pledged the house with a bank and raised Rs 15 lakh to set up a restaurant in Japan. “He set up Himalaya, and in five months he was about to start his second restaurant when fate played the cruel joke on us,” says Lakshmi. But even from prison, Mahendra Kumar sent his mother `75,000, the wages he earned working in the jail. “The rest of the EMIs were paid by Venugopal doing the odd jobs,” she says. Now, the mother has pledged the house again.“I sent the money to my son so that he can do something to get Mahendra back. What will I do with the house without my sons?” asks Lakshmi.