When Pankaj Patel and his pregnant wife Nisha left Ahmedabad on June 2, they thought they were heading to a new life in the United States, albeit through an illegal multi-country route. Instead, the couple was held captive in Iran allegedly by a Pakistani agent, and were only freed after paying a ransom of ₹15 lakh and through the intervention of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Gujarat government. The couple returned to Ahmedabad on Wednesday evening.
The Ahmedabad police have detained two agents, Pintu Goswami and Abhay Raval, on charges of kidnapping and fraud. A team from the city’s crime branch is also heading to Hyderabad to apprehend the alleged mastermind of this illegal immigration operation, an agent known as Shakil.
