CHENNAI: In an early-morning ordeal, Chennai-based economist A Kalaiyarasan was whisked away from his Adyar residence in his nightclothes by three plainclothes policemen at 5am on Wednesday over an abusive Instagram post targeting a TVK MLA, despite his clarification that he had no such a social media account.Kalaiyarasan, associate professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) and author of the book The Dravidian Model, was dropped back home nearly three hours later after it became clear that he had no connection with the account, which carried his photograph.Later, Kalaiyarasan wrote a complaint to DGP Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal, seeking action against the personnel who had harassed him. He said police arrived at his residence and asked him to accompany them to Sankar Nagar police station in Pammal. They accused him of posting an abusive comment against Pallavaram TVK MLA J Kamatchi.The professor said the personnel neither produced a complaint or FIR nor furnished any document authorising the inquiry. While travelling in a rented car, he repeatedly requested his phone to contact his family. He was eventually allowed to inform his friends. The vehicle later stopped near Pallavaram for about 45 minutes before police received instructions to take him home.During the return journey, police showed him a social media account bearing the username @youvijayamani, which carried his photograph. Kalaiyarasan suspected that someone had taken the photograph from Harvard University’s website, where he had previously served as a research affiliate.Police later asked him to submit a written statement denying ownership of the account before returning his phone. He reached home around 7.45am. “I felt harassed and humiliated,” Kalaiyarasan said, questioning how police could take someone away in the early hours without giving them a chance to explain.Describing the incident as humiliating, Kalaiyarasan sought action against those responsible for his alleged unlawful detention and identity misuse.When contacted, Shankar Nagar inspector Rajasekar said Kalaiyarasan was taken for questioning as the social media account bore his name and photograph. He denied allegations of harassment and said Kalaiyarasan was dropped back home after police established that he had no involvement in the incident.
