Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur)

Sushma asks embassy to trace missing youth

- Urvashi Dev Rawal urvashi.rawal@htlive.com

CASE Youth went missing in Saudi Arabia weeks after landing there JAIPUR

:External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj has asked officials in Riyadh to help the family of the Jaipur youth who is reported missing in Saudi Arabia weeks after he landed there on a job.

Responding to a HT report filed on Friday about Vikramadit­ya Rathore (23), missing since October 18, Swaraj, in a tweet, asked the Indian ambassador in Saudi Arabia, Ahmad Javed, and the Indian Embassy to help the family.

Swaraj is known for her proactive and prompt response to all those seeking her assistance on Twitter.

In this case too, Swaraj’s directive had quick impact and the embassy staff got in touch with Rathore’s family in Jaipur.

Vikramadit­ya’s elder brother Harshvardh­an said that a person from the Indian embassy in Riyadh called them on Monday, asking for his brother’s contact number.

When he said they didn’t have one, the person on the line said they would contact the travel agency in Mumbai, Al Husaini.

Vikramadit­ya’s family claims he went to Saudi Arabia with the help of an agent Mukesh Chauhan who works for Al-Husaini travels.

Chauhan took ₹2.5 lakh from the family for Vikramadit­ya’s passport, visa and other documents, and had promised that Vikramadit­ya would be employed as a supervisor in a store in Riyadh and would earn around ₹50,000.

Vikramadit­ya left on October 4 but called on October 18 to tell them that he had been taken to an unknown location several hundred kilometres from Riyadh and was being made to do menial jobs, work long hours and not given proper food.

The family pursued the matter with Chauhan and Javed, the owner of Al Husaini Travels, who kept telling them that they will bring Vikramadit­ya back soon.

Harshvardh­an finally filed a case of cheating against Chauhan on December 13.

Prabhu Singh, the investigat­ion officer in the case said they will soon nab Chauhan.

 ?? REUTERS ?? Sushma Swaraj.
REUTERS Sushma Swaraj.
 ?? HT PHOTO ?? Vikramadit­ya Rathore.
HT PHOTO Vikramadit­ya Rathore.

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