Two years ago, a confused Virachai Chabunmee woke up to find himself banged up in prison with a bunch of inmates whom he was supposedly in cahoots with in an insurrection plot.
The 35-year-old, far from knowing the inmates, didn't even know of the plot that was being talked among the others, says his distraught mother recalling the events that she is still in the dark about.
"My son said he didn't know anything about it. He was just imprisoned in the same cell at the same time with the main suspect," said Somkuan Chabunmee, 58, who along with her husband is a farmer.
"He was forced and threatened to confess that he was in the same gang as Pol Sgt Maj Prathin. My son did not even remember the story that people in the prison were talking about," said Ms Somkuan.
Her son Virachai was jailed on drug charges for two years in Khon Kaen prison, the same jail where Pol Sgt Maj Prathin Jangate, the main suspect in a suspected insurrection plot, labelled the "Khon Kaen Model" conspiracy, was detained after his arrest in May 2014.
Virachai was then released for several months, but during that time the military launched a raid on Mr Virachai's house in Kranuan district in November last year, to the shock of his parents and the whole neighbourhood.
Virachai's parents are among other grieving and similarly distraught families who are struggling to understand why their loved ones have inexplicably found themselves behind bars.
Pol Sgt Maj Prathin was among 26 suspects arrested after the May 22, 2014, coup and charged for his alleged involvement in the Khon Kaen insurrection plot, following authorities' raid on an apartment in Muang district of Khon Kaen which found weapons and documents that indicted the suspects.
All 26 suspects were later granted bail. Mr Virachai was jailed in the same prison with some of them before also being granted bail.
However, four of the 26 suspects, including Pol Sgt Maj Prathin, were rearrested in November last year together with five others, including Mr Virachai. The nine were accused of plotting to start an uprising during the "Bike for Dad" cycling event -- celebrating His Majesty the King's 88th birthday -- on Dec 11 last year, in the so-called "second-phase Khon Kaen model".
The first hearing in the second phase case was held on April 7 while the first Khon Kaen model case has yet to complete the evidence and witness verification process.
"Next month will be the last meeting at the court to check all of the lists before the hearing dates can be fixed," said Gatepunya Wongsil, one of the lawyers for the first-phase Khon Kaen model.
Controversy emerged in the second-phase case as Thanakrit Thong-nernperm, 49, one of the nine suspects, was arrested for allegedly sending lese majeste content via Facebook despite the fact that at the time of the incident, he was imprisoned at another provincial jail in a false documents case.
Corrections department officials had to defend against the fact that the inmate had no internet access, said Mr Gatepunya. Phan Saen-Ard, 74, grandmother of Pallop Saen-ard, one of the nine suspects in the second-phase case, said her grandson would have fled if he had done something terribly wrong.
"We live together -- just the two of us as his parents and two sisters are working and living mostly in the capital working in construction. I just collect paper to fold as small snack bags and do other odd jobs while Tah [Mr Pallop's nickname] has the brains for construction work," said Ms Phan.
Mr Pallop's uncle, who did not give his name, said his nephew studied at Pathumwan Institute of Technology but did not complete the degree, yet was skilled in construction which he put to use by doing jobs around the house occasionally.
Ms Phan, however, admitted that that her grandson visited Pol Sgt Maj Prathin's house for work and leisure purposes.
"The military and police came to my house in the evening yelling to get Mr Pallop," Ms Phan recalled bitterly, wondering when he might be released.
Benjarat Meetian, one of the lawyers for the first- and second-phase Khon Kaen model lawsuits, claimed that Pol Sgt Maj Prathin, and perhaps some others, were assaulted, with their heads covered, and almost suffocated in addition to being beaten during military interrogation.
If convicted, they might face the death sentence, according to the case lawyers. During the bail hearings, one of the defendant died due to illness. Authorities have repeatedly denied accusations of abuse.
"Both the Khon Kaen Model and the Bike for Dad lawsuits are obviously politically motivated. People can see that suspicious and rushed plots and charts were thought up and drawn," the lawyer said.
Such explanations from officials fail to convince families of the true circumstances surrounding the arrests, nor offer any consolation for their painful absence.
"If he had actually done something wrong he wouldn't have sat in the house waiting to be arrested," said Mr Pallop's uncle.