Retired Navyman demanding to meet Tata detained at Taj

A retired Navy commander was detained by the Colaba police on Monday for allegedly trying to force his way into the Hotel Taj Mahal Palace & Tower demanding to meet Ratan Tata, chairman of the group that owns the hotel.

A retired Navy commander was detained by the Colaba police on Monday for allegedly trying to force his way into the Hotel Taj Mahal Palace & Tower demanding to meet Ratan Tata, chairman of the group that owns the hotel.

HT Image

"Preliminary investigation shows that commander P Ram-achandran had some problem when he visited the hotel for lunch the previous day. We detained him till late evening for questioning," said Sanjivrao Mandlik, inspector, Colaba police station.

Ramachandran was allowed to go late at night.

According to sources at the Colaba police station, Ramachandran, 40, had allegedly had a problem with the service during his visit to one of hotel's restaurants.

"We have allowed him to go after questioning him," said an officer at Colaba police station, on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The police said they received a call from the outpost located close to the hotel at 1pm claiming they had apprehended a man who had run towards the main gate of the hotel. He was intercepted by police officers present at the spot.

The Colaba police said Ramachandran had not been very cooperative during the questioning. But, they confirmed he was unarmed and had made no threats.

"We questioned him to find out if there was any other reason why he wanted to meet Tata, but he was not saying much," the officer said.

Police sources confirmed that Ratan Tata was not in the south Mumbai hotel at the time of the incident.