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‘Keeping a close eye,’ says MEA on Indian nationals missing in Kenya since July
The missing persons include a 48-year-old entertainment industry veteran and Balaji Telefilms’s ex-COO ( Chief Operations Officer) - Zulfiqar Khan. Khan stepped down as the COO in May this year.
The Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday that it is in continuous touch with the Kenyan authorities after two Indian nationals went missing in the country in mid July. MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI that the government believes "they are still missing".
“There were two Indian nationals - Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan and Zaid Sami Kidwai - who have been missing in Kenya since mid-July. A police complaint was filed there soon after that. Subsequently, a habeas corpus petition was filed in the Kenyan court,” Bagchi told the media. “The issue is now sub-judice in the high court of Kenya, a number of hearings have taken place. Our High Commission has been in continuous touch with the Kenyan authorities. We are also in touch with some family members. We are keeping a close eye, I'm afraid they're still missing,” he added.
The missing persons include a 48-year-old entertainment industry veteran and Balaji Telefilms’s ex-COO ( Chief Operations Officer) - Zulfiqar Khan. Khan stepped down as the COO in May this year. Described by his family as an avid traveller and explorer, he went on a holiday to Kenya and was due to return on July 24. However, he dropped out of contact on July 21 and hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
Meanwhile, The Star - Kenyan news outlet - claims the two were abducted by armed men in the country’s capital city Nairobi. “Their car was blocked and armed men picked them up before vanishing. Their car was found at the scene,” the chief crime reporter of The Star wrote in a report.
(With inputs from ANI)
