CHENNAI: Facing alleged harassment by the Tambaram city police in a case of mistaken identity over social media comments about a TVK MLA, a widely respected academic has written to the State police chief seeking action against the personnel and impersonator.

In his complaint, A Kalaiyarasan, an associate professor of Economics at the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), stated that three plainclothes policemen knocked the doors of his residence in Adyar around 5 am. "When I opened the door, they asked my name. As soon as I confirmed it, they snatched my mobile phone, stating that they had come to take me to the Sankar Nagar police station for an inquiry regarding a social media post. They did not furnish any documents. They alleged that I had posted an abusive comment against Pallavaram TVK MLA J Kamatchi from an Instagram account," Kalaiyarasan stated in his complaint.

Kalaiyarasan was taken in a cab and was not even allowed to inform his family members and was permitted to use his mobile phone only after repeated requests. When they reached Pallavaram, they parked the vehicle for 45 minutes and after several back and forth calls, the policemen told him that they had received orders to drop him back home.

Kalaiyarasan said he was shown a screenshot of an abusive comment posted from an Instagram account that carried his photograph as the profile picture. "The culprit appears to have taken my photograph from the website of Harvard University where I was a research affiliate. After reaching my apartment, they asked me to state in writing that I had no connection with the Instagram account," he said. His phone was returned after he wrote the letter and he was dropped back home at 7.45 am.

"It is frightening to think that the police can knock on someone's door during early hours and take them away for no fault of their own. I request you to take appropriate action against those responsible for this unlawful detention, creation of a fake ID in my name, and maligning my name in public sphere," he said in the complaint.

In a statement, CPM state secretary P Shanmugam said Kalaiyarasan, a well-known professor at MIDS, was taken away from his house without any apparent reason.

“Midnight arrests and early morning arrests raise doubts about whether a police state is being established. If there was a complaint, the police could have registered a case, issued a summons and conducted an inquiry through due process,” he said.

Shanmugam strongly condemned the manner in which the professor was allegedly taken away, describing it as unacceptable.