On his side is a young female friend for the past nine years, 24-year-old Premmika Veerachatraksit, who also happens to he his former student. She is a psychology major at Chulalongkorn University and claims to have lots of friends and former students of Prakitpao's who are willing to testify in court that he is sane.

But Prakitpao is up against some formidable competition: his wife, mother, brother and the director of Srithanya Hospital, Dr Kiatipoom Wongrajit, all of whom insist he needs professional help.

And so this Friday, the Criminal Court will hear them out. No one knows what the future holds, but the end is far from over, as the battle to decide whether Prakitpao should remain in a mental institution will be a tough one.

Leaning favourably towards Prakitpao is chief investigator Pol Lt-Colonel Thitidej Intornpan, who became involved after Premmika lodged a complaint with the police.

Prakitpao was admitted to Sri-thanya Hospital on February 19. The next day, Premmika lodged a complaint with Bang Sue police station.

"I previously went to check at the hospital but was not allowed to speak to Prakitpao," said Lt-Colonel Thitidej, whose damning statement is likely to come in handy for the Prakitpao camp. Thitidej was supposed to take Prakitpao's statement as to why he believes he was being illegally detained in an insane asylum, and so the next natural course of action, as far as Thitidej is concerned, is to bring the court into the picture.

But not without a fight, though. Prakitpao's wife, Alisa, is now seeking to have the court summons annulled.

"What I'm doing is taking care of my husband," said Alisa. She insisted they were not estranged but declined to elaborate further or comment about the former student.

"Please listen to me when I speak to the court about why my husband should not be brought to the inquiry," Alisa said.

Dr Kiatipoom, whose expert opinion may not be admissible to the court now that he is a defendant in the case, told reporters yesterday that "patient" Prakitpao was not able to look after himself as of yesterday.

"He is confused," the hospital director said of Prakitpao.

Dr Kiatipoom also pointed out the irony of the court summoning a mentally ill patient to the inquiry. Further consultation with the doctor in charge of the case is needed, he said.

Earlier in the day at a press conference, Dr Kiatipoom said Prakitpao could conceivably make a complete recovery from his alleged illness if he received proper treatment.

He said Dr Paitoon Samudsin had treated Prakitpao at Srithanya Hospital and that the patient's file showed him suffering from "delusions", believing "he had magical powers".

Paitoon was not present at yesterday's press conference, because he was on holiday.

"Such symptoms can pose a threat to himself and people around him," said Dr Kiatipoom, adding that Srithanya Hospital had been a respectable institute throughout its 65 years of operation.

Dr Kiatipoom said lab tests also found the level of ephedrine in Prakitpao's urine was 200 times higher than normal.

"The treatment will take about 30 days, and the patient's recovery will be about 70-80 per cent," said Kiatipoom.

Prakitpao, 37, is married to Alisa, and the couple have two children. In 2005, his family was named an "exemplary family" by a civic organisation.

But Premmika has been at his hospital bedside during his nine-day stay. She described her relationship with Prakitpao as that of "a very close friend".

She did not say much more about the nature of their relationship but added that if and when Prakitpao divorced his wife, all of his money would go to his wife and children.

Dr Kiatipoom also questioned why there was such a high ephedrine level in Prakitpao's body.

Mental Health Department adviser Dr Sujarit Suwannacheep, speaking at the same press conference, said excessive dosage of ephedrine could affect the mind.

"It's not surprising if an ephedrine abuser develops mental symptoms," he said.

Also on the panel yesterday was Dr Prakitphan Thomthitchong, Prakitpao's older brother.

"My brother developed mental problems last October after his former students at the cram school persuaded him to practice meditation," said Dr Prakitphan.

The Thomthitchong Family has run the Applied Physics school for decades. Currently, it has 16 branches across the country and reportedly generates Bt100 million a year. Prakitpao became a key member behind the business after he decided to stop working as a doctor to keep his father's tutorial school going.

Dr Prakitphan yesterday said he suspected foul play behind the illness, saying his younger brother was absolutely fine before he started keeping close contact with these former students. He, too, pointed to the high level of ephedrine.

"Whoever did this to him has already successfully managed to discredit our family and our cram school," said Dr Prakitphan.

He said Prakitpao had turned paranoid and insisted on wearing a bulletproof vest after he began regularly going out with a group of his former students.

Dr Prakitphan did not say whether Premmika was one of them. So far, he has only confirmed that Premmika is a former student of Prakitpao's.

Dr Prakitphan said he would lodge a complaint against Lt-Colonel Thitidej for seeking Prakitpao's release from Srithanya Hospital.

"My family believes we are victims of a trap to discredit us," he said, adding that he had already spoken to acting national police chief General Seripisut Temiyavej.

Asked about Dr Prakitphan's threat, Thitidej said he would be ready to explain everything to Seripisut.

"I've followed normal procedure," he said.

Thitidej called it suspicious that Dr Prakitphan and his mother had also assigned a plainclothes police officer to keep a close watch on Prakitpao at Srithanya Hospital.

Thitidej said he hoped a neutral psychiatric institute would step in to treat Prakitpao.

Alisa's lawyer, Chuchart Sinlaparat, yesterday threatened to sue Thitidej and other relevant officials for seeking the court summons.

Prakitpao's mother, Assoc Prof Ploenchit, a retired Chulalongkorn University lecturer, said no mother would put her own child in a mental hospital if her son had not developed an illness.

In a related development, pharmacist Paisal Puangniyom of the Food and Drug Administration said he had never seen anyone with such a high level of ephedrine before.

"I wonder how such a massive amount of ephedrine could exist in his body. It was probably injected," said Paisal.

Ephedrine is also available in medicines to treat runny nose and reduce allergies.

Duangkamon  Sajirawattanakul,

Puangchompoo Prasert

The Nation