KASARAGOD: A woman in Mangalpady panchayat is cluelessly running around seeking the help of the government to secure the release of her husband arrested in Malaysia five months ago. Malaysian police arrested Madhusudana Shetty (47), a restaurant cook from Kasaragod, from Penang state on February 27.
But his wife Indiravathi came to know of the arrest only on June 11. The very next day, she wrote a letter to the junior minister for external affairs V Muraleedharan seeking legal assistance for her husband. “We have yet to hear from his office,” she said.
When contacted, Muraleedharan’s staff said the External Affairs Ministry was waiting for a reply from the High Commission in Kuala Lumpur. The New Indian Express contacted his friends in Malaysia and they said that the police were not sharing information about Shetty.
A case of molestation or misunderstanding?
Shetty was arrested for allegedly molesting a minor girl but his friends in Malaysia said it was a clear case of misunderstanding. “But if he does not get proper legal support, he may end up in prison for up to 20 years,” said said Saleem Kadavallur, a native of Thrissur, who described himself as an intimate friend of Shetty in Malaysia.
Shetty, an expert in making tandoori dishes, was working for a restaurant at Kajang in the coastal state of Selangor for the past two years. Both Shetty and Saleem were sponsored by Moosan, a Malayali and a Malaysian citizen, who runs Moosan Enterprise.
In early February, a common friend invited Shetty to open a restaurant in Penang, another coastal state 380km up north of Selangor. “Shetty was invited to train the cooks of the new restaurant,” said Saleem.
The restaurant opened on February 27. The next day, he was supposed to return to Selangor. But after the restaurant’s inauguration, Shetty partied with his friends till late.
Around 10 pm, he went to the beach alone. It was an off-bound area because of Covid. At that time, a eight-year-old girl playing on the beach fell down, and Shetty reportedly rushed to her rescue. “We are told that he picked up the girl and was dusting the sand off her clothes when her parents arrived and thought he was harassing her,” said Saleem.
Shetty, who is not fluent in Malay, could not properly explain himself either and the police were called in. He was arrested on the spot.
Later, he was produced before the court through a video call and then remanded in judicial custody. His sponsor Moosan was told that he was frequently shifted from one detention camp to another because of Covid outbreaks. Shetty also contracted Covid. “Now we don’t know where he is. He will need a good lawyer,” said Saleem.
He said the beach was well lit and also had surveillance cameras. “The police could have checked the footage before charging him. Now, only a good lawyer can get him out soon,” he said. Shetty’s wife Indravathi said the intervention of the ministry was absolutely necessary to save him. “Two children and aged ailing parents are solely dependent on him,” she wrote to the minister.