Chennai: Almost two weeks after the assault on PT instructor S. Baskar, police arrested Rich India boss Mr D. Arulanandhu on Monday. Police had picked up 35 of his employees for the assault.However, Mr Baskar and his family are still living in fear. Yet to recover from his injuries, the 36-year-old teacher is under treatment at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH).
He says he is undergoing “mental trauma” and every visitor is seen with a bit of skepticism even fear.On November 20, a mob had barged into the Loyola Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Kodambakkam and assaulted the PT instructor for reportedly punishing Mr Arulanandhu's son (a Class VIII student). Mr Baskar says he is now tired of recalling that incident and explaining it to people. “The boy had whistled during the PT class after which I took him to the HM's room. A few hours later, three men came and enquired about me. Then around 20 of them followed and started thrashing me near my room,” he recalls.
“No one understands the mental trauma I am going through. I sleep only at 2 am,” he adds.Two police constables are posted outside the male surgical ward on the second floor of RGGGH and visitors are expected to leave their details with them. His mother, Ms Kantha and his elder brother Mr S. Charles are by his side. Ms Kantha fears that someone might come and harm her son again. “My father, Das is too old and sick to move out. So, my mother and I take turns to be by my brother's side,” says Mr Charles (49), who works as a driver at a church near their residence at St Thomas Mount.
In the past week, many people have visited Mr Baskar at the hospital, coming forward to help him with the case. “But I am skeptical. They might want to settle scores with the businessman and might try to use me as bait. I have nothing against Mr Arulanandhu. Ours is purely a parent-teacher relationship,” Mr Baskar says softly. A football player in his university days, he finds it difficult to walk now. He points to his right cheek and says that the swelling has gone down only recently and he is able to talk.
While he is confident of recovering from his injury, he is worried about his security and that of his family. “I want to be able to walk down the road and feel safe without the fear of a stranger approaching me. That's what bothers me now,” adds a wheelchair bound Mr Baskar on his way to a lower body scan.
