Pattaya police are trying to sort out an Indian family dispute to determine if any crime actually was committed.
Allegations of abuse, kidnapping, fraud and adultery litter the drama between an Indian restaurant owner, his son and daughter-in-law. None of it so far has been backed up by any actual facts.
The saga began when paramedics on April 20 rushed to Central Road near the Foodland supermarket where Sanjay Gaur, 53, had jumped out of a moving MG sedan and was injured.
Gaur told police that his son, Tusar, 25 and his girlfriend, Wanatda Kokabin, 36, had kidnapped, assaulted and threatened to kill him. A hospital examination, however, found no indications he was beaten. His back pain was a result of jumping from the car.
Furthermore, CCTV cameras captured Gaur walking around while talking on the phone and only laid down on the pavement just before paramedics arrived. Police are pulling CCTV camera footage and interviewing everyone involved to piece together what actually happened, as each side’s story differs wildly.
According to senior Gaur, Tusar and Wanatda were unhappy that he planned to change the shareholders in the restaurant he owns on Soi 7 to exclude the Thai woman, as the eatery was losing money.
He said that his son drove the MG and Wanatda sat in the back. They had kidnapped him and allegedly assaulted him in the car, threatening to kill him if he cut his son out of the business, he said. Fearing for his life, Gaur claimed he jumped out of the car.
A Thai friend of the elder Gaur, Arocha, 38, confirmed he had called her for help. They showed up outside Foodland to assist him and Gaur repeated his claim he was kidnapped.
Tusar Gaur’s version of events contrasted sharply. According to the son, Gaur had not paid his employees and, worse, had not done anything to help his mother after she was arrested in India on fraud charges for crimes Tusar claimed his father was to blame for. Tusar said Gaur abandoned his mother and has shacked up with another woman in Pattaya.
So Tusar picked up Gaur at the restaurant so they could talk. But his father refused to talk and spent all his time trying to call Arocha and other friends on the phone. Tusar denied assaulting or kidnapping his father.
Tusar said he grabbed his father to stop him from jumping, but once Gaur hit the pavement, he drove back. By then, Arocha had arrived, so Tusar told his father he was going back to the restaurant and would wait for Gaur there. But his father never showed up, so Tusar went to the police station where police told him after several hours wait to go home.
Gaur, for his part, denied he was having an affair or was involved in any fraud in India, asserting he was a respected journalist at home and was not connected with anything illegal.
