Mumbai: In a surprise development, Polaris Software Laboratories Ltd chairman and managing director (CMD) Arun Jain was detained by Indonesian Police in Jakarta while on a visit to a client's office.

The company, in a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange on December 16, said Jain was "held against his will by the police in Jakarta", on December 13.

The Chennai-based company had signed agreements with Bank Artha Graha in June 2002 and August 2002 covering Central Processing, Disaster Recovery and Branch Server related work.

The contract was supposed to be completed by July 2003.

The bank, however, served a termination notice on Polaris on November 27, 2002, which the company responded on December 03, stating that the grounds for termination were incorrect and offered to resolve the issue through discussions.

However, on their arrival in the bank office, they were "detained against their wishes and not allowed to leave the premises. In the evening, the bank filed a report with the police at Jalan Truno Joyo Tiga 3 of Jakarta and they were detained".

The company said it was trying to secure their release through the Ministries of External Affairs and Information Technology, NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies) and the Indian Embassy in Jakarta.

PTI