NAGERCOIL: In a midnight swoop, security agencies raided a downmarket lodge in Nagercoil on Sunday and whisked away a 49-year-old German, who had been staying there for a fortnight, on the suspicion that he was involved in the channelling of aid to a local NGO that allegedly diverts funds to fuel the anti-Koodankulam nuclear power plant agitation.Sonntag Rainer Hermann from Essen, who checked into the lodge on Court Road on February 12, was staying in a small room that does not even have a western-style closet or air conditioning, paying a daily rent of `200.He was picked up by officials from various security agencies past 11.30 pm and taken to Chennai for interrogation by immigration officials. “We are making arrangements for the cancellation of his visa and his deportation,” said a source, adding that Hermann would not be able to visit India again.Sleuths, who had been shadowing Hermann for three days, found him to be in touch with R S Lal Mohan, a retired career scientist now running an NGO, Conservation for Nature Trust, in Nagercoil, the source said.When Express contacted Mohan on Monday, he described Hermann as a friend. A computer expert, Hermann was a dedicated social worker who visited India frequently, Mohan, now in Coimbatore, said.Mohan knew Hermann was in Nagercoil but claimed he had not met him for a long time. However, he did not know the name of the lodge in which Hermann was staying.Mohan, who is also the convener of INTACH’s Nagercoil chapter, is a member of the expert committee formed by the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), which is spearheading the protest against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project. PMANE convenor S P Udayakumar has openly described Mohan as his ‘guru’. Mohan, who has worked for the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, is also the trustee of AJK Institute of Management in Navakkarai near Coimbatore. At present, he is deeply involved in conservation work in Kanyakumari district.
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