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'Will you please help me locate my son?'

Chandrababu Sasiraj, 32, was a quiet and bright student, interested only in studies and books. He had few friends while young; his companions were books. In fact, he did not enjoy talking to people. Unlike his peers, he would be at home most of the time, either studying or reading some book. Other than watching television occasionally, he had no other entertainment.

He got excellent marks in all the exams, and eventually got admission to the prestigious Vellore Engineering College, graduated, and got a job in the United States in 1994. He was a quiet, simple man with simple tastes. His only passion was books, which he bought in abundance. His parents were very happy and proud that he never made a false step in his life.

This bright young man with a great future now stands accused of trying to hijack an aircraft.

"I really do not know what is happening. I haven't stopped crying since the night of September 9. Today is the first day that I have got up from the bed. I am very tired..." Sasiraj's mother Naveena Kumari couldn't control herself when she started talking about her son.

"In the last seven years, he came home several times. He also sent us some money. We were happy for him for we thought he was happily settled there (in the US)," his mother recalled.

But they never knew where he was employed. Sasiraj returned to India in 2001 with no money in his pocket. "When he came back, he was very unhappy, always sitting alone and staring vacantly. Then he started complaining about a persistent headache. He never told what had happened in the US, and we did not pressurise him. He just said, 'I am scared. I cannot remain there alone. That's why I have come back. I do not know how I came back.'"

When the headaches continued, Sasiraj's parents took him to Vellore for treatment and the hospital diagnosis said schizophrenia. Yet Sasiraj did not take the medicines after a few weeks, complaining that the medicines caused him more pain. The family then took him to a psychiatrist in Chennai. Again the problem was that he wouldn't take the medicines.

"As long as he was taking medicines, he was fine but when he was off medicines, he would slip into severe depression. But he was never violent," his mother said.

Though Sasiraj's family was not keen on him travelling, over the last year, he got a job in Singapore and later at Dubai. He returned from both places due to sickness.

"This time, when he said he wanted to go to Mumbai, I told him I would accompany him but he didn't agree. I wish I had gone with him. This (the hijack) would not have happened then. The only mistake he has made in his entire life was that he did not tell us he was planning to go outside the country from Mumbai. This is the first time he hid something from us," wailed Sasiraj's mother as she remembered the last time she saw her eldest son.

When television channels and newspapers flashed the news on September 9 that a man had tried to hijack an Air Seychelles Boeing 737 from Mumbai to Seychelles via Maldives, little did Naveena Kumari imagine that her son was involved.

And when policemen started making inquiries about Sasiraj the same night, all that she could do was cry. "That was the first time in our lives that the police had entered our house. They told me not to worry and that they were enquiring after my son on the basis of some suspicion. After that, the airline company also called us and told us that there was no hijacking.

"From then on, people from the media and the police have been calling and coming here and asking us hundreds of questions about my son. But nobody answers our questions. Where is my son? What has happened to him? Why is it that nobody is telling us that?"

Controlling her emotions with difficulty, she added, "I know he cannot do such a thing. He must be very depressed and upset. I want to help him but I feel so helpless here. I only know for sure that my son is incapable of doing any such thing. He is sick. He is depressed and he needs help. Will you please help me locate my son? Will you please help me talk to him? I only want to talk to him. This is a mother's request..."

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