​Father of constable, who shot self, demands judicial probe

CHENNAI: Twenty-six-year-old Arunraj was more like a friend to his father than a son. Malairajan, who broke down on seeing the body of his youngest son, said that he last spoke to him at 7.30pm on Saturday before leaving for night shift to guard the memorial of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Marina Beach.
The Royapettah government hospital where Arunraj’s body was kept on Sunday appeared like a fortress with police denying entry to the media.
“He shared all his problems with me. There was no family problem that was troubling him. I don’t know whether there was any work-related pressure, as he did not share anything in the recent past,” said Malairajan.

Demanding a judicial probe into his son’s death, he claimed that he was not a coward to easily end his life. Malairajan said the probe must focus on the trauma that was troubling him.

Malairajan said that Arunraj got the police job when he was pursuing his degree in commerce from Annamalai University.

“He asked me to send the bank account details so that he could transfer money, though we did not depend entirely on his money to run the family. I always gave him the liberty to keep his salary for his basic needs,” the grief-stricken father said.

Malairajan said Arunraj was happy doing guard duty at the memorial. “I told him that he was lucky to get posted at Amma’s memorial,” Malairajan said.

Arunraj was known among his friends as a highly spiritual person. He stayed in Triplicane where his room was filled with spiritual books and had pictures of Lord Shiva pasted on the walls. He was an introvert and had his limited circle of friends.

Malairajan said his son had once gone missing in July 2015.

Arunraj, who belonged to the 2013 batch, also did tapal duty at the home secreatary office, besides other duties at the secretariat.