Emu farm owner held for misusing Kalams name

ERODE: An Emu farm owner in Perundurai has been arrested on charges of misusing former President A P J Abdul Kalam’s name to promote his NGO, police said on Sunday.M S Guru, owner of Susi Emu Farm, was arrested following a complaint by Kalam’s personal secretary R K Prasad to collector and Superintendent of Police, Perundurai DSP K Gunasekaran told reporters. The complaint said that Guru had released a photo with Kalam to the media along with a statement that the former President had inaugurated his Susi Charitable Trust, working for water conservation work, on August 14.Guru had indeed called on Kalam at his residence in New Delhi like other visitors and took a photo with him. The complaint said no trust was inaugurated by Kalam. “The complaint was forwarded to us and in the inquiry we found that at the time of the visit, one Poongundran, an NGO functionary who accompanied Guru, showed some photos to Kalam regarding some social service works. Kalam advised to do more good works for the society. But, Guru misinformed the public by using that photo for his personal publicity,” he said.The inquiry also revealed that the same photo with same information appeared in a magazine also. The farm distributed that magazine to all its customers to highlight Guru’s contacts with persons in high position. A case has been registered against Guru under various sections of the IPC relating to cheating and creating fake document, among others.Guru was produced before Perundurai Judicial Magistrate and was remanded to 15 days custody.  The farm owner already has two other criminal cases registered against him. He had allegedly entered into quarrel with some depositors, who sought refund, and owners of another farm.