A resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj district has claimed that his cousin from Kushinagar, who was working in Libya, has been abducted by some insurgent group there.
In an online complaint lodged at Prasad Nagar police station in Delhi, Lallan Prasad, a resident of Baijnath Pur village under Kothi Bhar police station in Maharajganj, also claimed that besides his relative, Munna Chauhan, six other Indians have been kidnapped.
Kushinagar Superintendent of Police Vinod Singh said “a case of the kidnapping of a Kushinagar resident in Libya has come to my knowledge".
The police is in contact with the family of the abducted man, said Singh.
The Delhi police said it has received a complaint on the issue, but no FIR has been lodged in the matter.
The ministry of external affairs, however, is yet to confirm the claim of the abduction of seven Indians in Libya.
In his complaint to the Delhi Police, Prasad also quoted the owner of a Delhi-based private recruitment firm employing Indians for its overseas clients to say that the kidnappers have been demanding a ransom of $20,000 for release of each of the seven Indians.
Quoting Delhi firm N.D. Enterprises’ owner Gaurav, Prasad said in his complaint that the Libyan company for which the Indians had been working, has also agreed to pay the ransom for their kidnapped employees.
Prasad identified his kidnapped cousin, Munna Chauhan, as a resident of Garahiya Basantpur village under Nebua Naurangia police station in Kushinagar district.
Prasad named the six other Indians kidnapped in Libya as Mahendra Singh, Venkatarao Batchala, Shah Ajay, Umedirahimbhai Multani, Danya Boddu and Jogarao Batchala.
Prasad said his cousin, Munna Chauhan, had gone to Libya in September 2019 to work as a welder with a private firm there after the Delhi firm managed to secure a job for him there.
He said he last spoke to his cousin on September 13, 2020, when he had told him that his contract period for the job was over in Libya and he would return on September 17.
“Munna had also sent a facsimile of his air ticket from Libya to India on my WhatsApp number,” said Prasad.
Prasad said as Munna failed to return home on September 17, he began enquiring about him from the Delhi firm, which refused to give him any information and even stopped attending his calls.
"At this, I reached Delhi on September 27 and visited the overseas recruitment agency at Rajendra Palace, where the firm’s owner told me about the kidnapping of seven Indians in Libya," he said, adding that after this he lodged an online complaint with Delhi's Prasad Nagar police station near Rajendra Palace.
