The News Minute| July 2, 2014| 4.00 pm IST
The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has asked the court Registrar, two psychiatrists and advocate commissioner to inspect condition at Akshaya home in Madurai, run by Narayanan Krishana, a philanthropist who had gained international fame in the last few years. The HC has also asked registrar to give a list of people who wish to leave the home, and were being held there against their wishes.
In the year 2010, Narayanan Krishnan a chef who left his job to feed the poor and needy was made a CNN hero. Later in 2013, Krishnan started the Akshaya home. Trouble began when on June 5 this year, a female inmate from the trust’s home ran away. Twenty-one-year old Shabnam (name changed) was completely unclothed and she later told the police that she and other inmates had been physically and sexually abused in Akshaya Home.
The home run by Akshaya Trust situated on a 2.8 acre plot at Kodimangalam village in Madurai has 537 inmates, 171 women and 366 men. The inmate who escaped - Shabnam - told the police her version of what was going on behind the four walls of the home. Following this, the High Court had constituted a probe panel to look into the activities of the home. Three reports submitted by this panel talked at length about deaths, disappearances, abuse, lack of medical care etc at the home.
One of the most serious allegations made in the report is that 120 people had died in the home during the last one year. According to the Trust, they all died of cardiac arrest or respiratory arrest. The News Minute spoke to Narayanan Krishnan who confirmed the deaths. Read our earlier report- Deaths, disappearances, abuse: CNN Heroes' Narayanan Krishnan mired in controversy