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3 abducted Punjabi men rescued in Iran, families heave sigh of relief
The three men, Amritpal Singh, Jaspal Singh, and Hushanpreet Singh, from Hoshiarpur, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and Sangrur, respectively, had been held captive shortly after they landed in Tehran on May 2. They had been promised a safe pathway to Australia via Iran by the travel agents.
The three Indian nationals from Punjab, who had gone missing in Iran last month after having been duped by a travel agency, have been rescued by the Tehran police, the Iranian Embassy in India has reported.
In a post on X, it confirmed that the Tehran police have freed the missing Indians.
The three men, Amritpal Singh, Jaspal Singh, and Hushanpreet Singh, hailing from Punjab’s Hoshiarpur, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and Sangrur, had been abducted and held captive shortly after they had landed in Tehran on May 2. They had been promised a safe pathway to Australia via Iran by the travel agents.
After hearing about their abduction from their wards and subsequent calls by the abductors for ransom, the families of the three men had lost touch with them. They had approached the Indian government for help after which the Indian Embassy in Iran had taken up the matter with its counterpart in Iran.
The Iranian Embassy in India has stated that the case was pursued by the consular affairs department of Iran’s ministry of foreign affairs.
Amritpal spoke to his family on Tuesday and informed about the safe rescue of all the three. His uncle, Gurdev Singh, said the Iranian police officials made Amritpal call home from their phone.
“He has not divulged details but said that he was safe and was being taken for medical check-up”, said Gurdev Singh.
Amritpal said that the kidnappers had also been arrested and were in police custody.
The family of 33-year-old Jaspal Singh, who was abducted in Iran’s Tehran, heaved a sigh of relief after the family received information from ministry of external affairs about his release early on Tuesday.
Hailing from Langroya village, 3km from Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district headquarters, Jaspal left home a month ago to reach Australia via Iran, knowing little that he along with two other Punjabi men were being trapped by aides of illegal travel agents.
“The past one month remained most traumatic as we thought that we were talking to Jaspal for the last time every time the abductors showed him and other youth on the video call. The accused first demanded the ransom of ₹1 crore but later settled for ₹18 lakh,” said his relative, Balwinder Singh.
He added that Jaspal had a brief conversation on Tuesday morning in which he said he was safe.
“We were told that the kidnappers had torn their passports and the authorities are trying to procure fresh passports for their safe return to India,” he said.
His wife, Kuldeep Kaur, said she was relieved that her husband would return safely back to his family, including two daughters. “We are thankful to the Government of India and ministry of external affairs for concerted efforts for the rescue of my husband and two other missing men,” she added.
Meanwhile, Balwinder Kaur, the mother of Hushanpreet Singh from Sangrur, said they came to know about the rescue from news channels.
Ramesh Sharma, Hushanpreet’s maternal uncle, said the family received a call on Monday from their son and his mates who were abducted. “A police officer there allowed them to call and inform us,” he said. “We received the call, in which the three said that police had rescued them safely from the abductors and that the accused Pakistani kidnappers were arrested,” said Sharma, adding that efforts of the external affairs ministry played a pivotal role in the release of the three for which they are thankful to PM Narendra Modi and external affairs minister S Jaishankar.
A first information report (FIR) has been registered against the Hoshiarpur-based travel agent brothers and their woman accomplice at Model Town police station, but they continue to be at large.
Hoshiarpur senior superintendent of police Sandeep Kumar Malik has constituted a special investigation team (SIT), headed by a deputy superintendent, to probe the case and arrest the accused.
