Mark Zuckerberg's Indian stalker wanted financial support for his dying mother

Pradeep Manukonda, an Indian-origin man accused of stalking Mark Zuckerberg, claims he was only trying to reach the Facebook founder because he wanted help in relation to a personal problem.

Manukonda claims he was trying to contact Zuckerberg in a last ditch effort to acquire financial assistance for his dying mother.

In a letter he sent Zuckerberg this past January, the 31-year-old depicts himself as "a son to my mother who has become helpless in supporting his kin," reports TMZ.

Pradeep claims his mother is suffering from a serious illness with little time to live - though he doesn't disclose the nature of her illness, according to DailyIndia.com.

Zuckerberg, the world's youngest self-made billionaire, prefers to keep to himself. But his profile has been raised in the past year thanks to the growing influence of Facebook (Time magazine named him Person of the Year at the end of 2010) and the semi-fictionalized Facebook biography film "The Social Network," which has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, according to CNET.