The case of a 27-year-old Indian software engineer arrested in the United States in October last year on charges of soliciting sex with a minor has come out into the open following his family's attempts to seek justice for the engineer.

The engineer, Naveen Somagudda Ningappa, was on deputation in New Jersey from April 2007 for a project being carried out by HCL. He was arrested on October 26 after he attempted to meet a police decoy playing the role of a 12-year-old during an Internet chat session.

Naveen Ningappa, charged with 'solicitation to commit rape and indecent assault, attempted rape and attempted unlawful communication with a minor', has been in a Pennsylvania prison facing trial after he was unable to furnish the $5,00,000 amount set for a bail release, his family has stated.

Ningappa is alleged to have travelled from Lodi in New Jersey in a chauffer-driven car to meet the undercover police operative in a town called East Norriton. While Ningappa's arrest was revealed immediately to his brother Sridhar, the news was kept from his father, a school headmaster, and his mother, who live in Chitradurga in Karnataka until recently fearing an adverse reaction, his brother Sridhar has stated.

According to Sridhar, he tried to get some help on his own for Ningappa, even approaching politicians like former Union minister M V Rajashekharan, but was forced to reveal his brother's situation after all efforts failed.

Following an attempt to reach Ningappa by sending a letter to a Pennsylvania prison the family had received four letters from Ningappa narrating his plight, Sridhar said.

Ningappa has asked his family to forget him for a few years since he sees no hope of his release in the near future. "He was arrested for a crime he did not commit," says his brother.