Udaipur 7 October - The relatives of Pawan Das Vaishnav, hailing from Siyakeri village of Vallabh Nagar in Udaipur heaved a sigh of relief on Friday, after Pawan was released unhurt from the clutches of the people who kidnapped him for ransom. As per reports, the kidnappers in Dubai had demanded Rs 15 lakh ransom for his release.

Pawan was among many Indian youth who went to Dubai looking for a job and in turn were framed by gangs involved in their transit, by either duping them off money or kidnapping them and demanding ransom from their families in India.

Background

Jagdish, the brother of the victim Pawan, in his report, said that Pawan had flown to Dubai on 14 July 2023, along with a few other men. Once in Dubai, Pawan joined a private firm and after working for a few days, shifted his job and worked elsewhere with a Sri Lankan. As per Jagdish, the people who he was working with, took his Passport and Mobile phone from him and seldom allowed him to speak to his family. He was kept at an isolated place in Dubai. The kidnappers used to torture him, and coerced him into providing information on his relatives in Udaipur.

It was on 21 September that Jagdish received a call from Pawan, when he told Jagdish that he had been kidnapped and the kidnappers were demanding Rs 7 Lakh as ransom. He again called and told Jagdish that the kidnappers had increased the ransom amount to Rs 15 Lakh.

Jagdish said that the family members contacted all whom they knew for help, but never got any assurance.  It was after a few days that the family connected with Suresh Vaishnav, who in turn connected them to BJP MP CP Joshi. Joshi then got the family to present the case to Union Minister Ashwani Vaishnav, who took cognizance to the matter and informed the UAE Embassy in New Delhi.

The Embassy updated the Dubai Police and they swung into action anf flashed the news of Pawan's kidnapping across the local channels. However, before the Police could investigate and apprehend the kidnappers, they got apprehensive about the whole thing and the involvement of Dubai Police. Fearing action, the kidnappers immediately released Pawan, unhurt. Pawan, as per jagdish, was dropped by the kidnappers around 500 meters from the Dubai Airport.