Three Mehsana Family Members Vanish En Route To US; Ransom Call From Ethiopia
Three relatives from Mehsana who set out for the US via Ethiopia have gone missing, with a caller demanding Rs 1 crore in ransom.
Three members of a family from Gujarat's Mehsana district have gone missing while attempting to reach the United States through irregular routes, with their relatives now confronting a ransom demand.
The missing are Mamata Chavda, 30, her cousin Rithvik Jansari, 23, and another cousin, Mayuri Solanki, 27.
Mamata's husband has been living in the US on a student visa for three years. After she faced six successive visa rejections, the family approached a local agent, Alpesh Panchal, who promised to arrange their journey to America through unconventional means.
Panchal put the family in touch with Bhargav Patel, a Vadodara-based agent, who agreed to take the three to the US for Rs 75 lakh per person. The family paid roughly Rs 70 lakh upfront.
The journey began on September 20, when the trio left Gojariya for Jaipur. They then flew to Abu Dhabi on an Etihad Airways flight and were routed onward to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, they stayed at a facility called the GSF Camp on Swaziland Street on one-month e-visas.
The family received a call from Mamata on September 22, in which she said they had reached Canada safely. Immediately afterwards, all three phones were switched off and direct contact stopped.
Three days later, the family received a call from an unknown man identifying himself only as Khan, who claimed to have abducted the three and demanded Rs 1 crore for their release.
Having already paid tens of lakhs to the agents, the family is financially exhausted. Mamata's father, Kiritbhai Chauhan, has publicly appealed to the government to intervene and secure the release of the three.
Panchal has since claimed that the trio never reached Canada and alleged that they were kidnapped while still in Ethiopia. He said his own primary international contact has gone missing, that he had already paid Rs 60 lakh to the abductors, and that they are now demanding an additional Rs 1 crore.
The Langhnaj police station has launched an investigation. Officers are examining the role of the travel agents, trying to trace the ransom call, and working to verify the location and safety of the three individuals.