Prakitpao, 37, has run lucrative tutorial business until he was sent to Srithanya Hospital as a mentally-ill patient on February 19 under murky circumstances. Hours before that, he was preparing to sign divorce papers.

The Court started the emergency hearing last Friday.

Upon the court's order, Prakitpao has been transferred from Srithanya Hospital to be under the care of the Galaya Rajanagarindra Hospital since last Friday. The court asked the institute to give Prakitpao a comprehensive check up, examining Prakitpao's mental state in detail and checking for any mindaltering substances in his body.

When he was first admitted to the Srithanya Hospital, Prakitpao was found to have ephedrine in his body at the level 200 times higher than normal people had.

It remains unclear how the sizeable amount of this mindaffecting substance got into Prakitpao's body.

Prakitpao's close friend, 24-yearold Pemmika Veerachatraksit, lodged a complaint with police that Prakitpao had been forced mental treatments despite being perfectly sane. Pol Lt Col Thitidej Intornpan then asked the court to order the release of Prakitpao.

During Friday's hearing, Srithanya Hospital director Dr Kiettiphum Wongrajit told the court that when Dr Prakitpao was initially admitted to Srithanya Hospial last month, his name was not in the registration list.

He blamed the absence of Dr Prakitpao's name on the human error.The issue was raised in court Friday and continued through out most of the afternoon.

The absence of his name from the list was raised by an investigating officer who pointed out the irregularity behind what was supposed to be a hospital procedure but fell short of making any conclusion.

While Prakitpao has been kept out of the public's eye, Premika has taken the lead speaking publicly on his behalf. She described herself as "a very close friend" of Prakitpao.

The Nation