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Mumbai: Zulfiqar Khan’s family and friends had just about begun living vicariously through his Instagram posts of good times in Masai Mara when their delight was suddenly interrupted: The 48-year-old entertainment industry veteran from Mumbai has been missing in Nairobi, Kenya, since July this year. The family’s entreaties to the Indian government to trace him, have not yielded any result, which has driven them, and his friends, to start an online campaign — #BringZulfiBack — hoping to catch the government’s attention.
Zulfiqar Khan last worked with Balaji Telefilms as its Chief Operations Officer (COO), before stepping down in May this year. In July, Khan, an avid traveller and explorer, 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.
The family then wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Indian High Commission in Kenya to trace his whereabouts.
“He told us about attending a party in Kenya, along with some other Indian nationals. He left late at night with one of them in a taxi driven by a local. The next morning, the vehicle was found with all its doors open, its engine still running. There was no sign of the occupants,” said Aquil Hussain, Khan’s relative, who is helping to trace him, on behalf of his brother and two sisters.
The family learnt about the incident when a well-known Kenyan advocate Ahmednasir Abdullahi got in touch with them, after obtaining details about Khan. Abdullahi filed a writ petition in the Kenyan court seeking investigation, soon after the missing Kenyan taxi driver’s family filed a police complaint.
Until then, Khan’s family remained clueless about of him; their WhatsApp messages to him were not being delivered either.
“We enjoyed watching his social media posts of breathtaking Masai Mara and all the amazing food he was enjoying. He told his friends on the phone that he was returning on July 24, but would be back towards the end of the year to witness the Great Migration across the Mara River. He spoke about the wildlife at length and advised everyone to visit the lovely place. And then Zulfi just disappeared,” Hussain recalled.
Meanwhile, there was a change in government in Kenya; its current president William Ruto was sworn in last month. The Kenyan police force, too, was left in disarray, when its chief, Inspector General Hilary Mutyambi, went on medical leave as soon as Ruto took charge, and the head of its Crime Investigation Department (CID) also resigned.
It didn’t help either when local media reported that the missing Indians were ‘IT experts’ who came to Kenya to ‘help Ruto with his election campaign,’ and that they were kidnapped by Ruto’s detractors; a claim that has been rubbished by Khan’s family.
“We don’t even know who the other missing Indian is and where he is from. We don’t know if there is a search operation or if the Indian government has demanded an explanation from the Kenyan government about the missing citizens. We don’t even know if our own High Commission in Kenya is helping in any way,” Hussain said.
HT reached out to the Indian High Commissioner in Nairobi, Dr Virander Paul, and Deputy High Commissioner, Ashish Sinha, via email on Saturday, but received no response.
Abdullahi has had no luck with either government. “We filed a habeas corpus petition, seeking that the missing persons be produced before the court, dead or alive, but the police have ignored it. We wrote to the local Indian High Commissioner and copied our letter to New Delhi, but both were not helpful,” said Abdullahi, exclusively to HT.
Now, with the new government in office, a fresh investigation has been ordered by the new acting Inspector General of Police appointed by the National Police Service Commission, Noor Y Gabow. “We are hopeful that the truth will be revealed,” Abdullahi added.
An alumnus of Hansraj College, New Delhi, and St John’s School, Nainital, Khan, is an avid sportsman, foodie, traveller, climber and explorer.
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