Last month, Ajay Kumar of Dondlo village in Giridih district of Jharkhand allegedly received a text message, which cooled his blood. “Hello … I believe you belong to Rajukumar, who was kidnapped in the Republic of Niger,” the text message said. “He, along with 4 other people. Unfortunately, he was kidnapped by the fighters. They approached me to pass a message. Ur Brezza gave him Ur Namba.”
Ajay did not take much time to find out what it was. His friend Rajkumar Maho was among the five migrant workers of Girid in Jharkhand, who was abducted by armed gunmen in the Tilberry region of the West African country of Niger on 25 April. Of those, kidnapping was a Niger National.
The lesson also asked Ajay to contact the “a negotiator” in the non-profit Kaltham Foundation for Peace in Nigeria. “He (Rajkumar Maho) is a childhood friend and only remembered my phone number,” Ajay, a migrant worker working with the company in Dubai himself, told Ajay. The Indian Express,
Then, on July 2, as soon as he approached the authorities and was finding out how to act, he was reportedly another – more chilling – message. “You have 7 days to work or your relatives – all 5 persons – history,” read this. “What you need is known to you.”
The escalatery tone of the second message scared him, Ajay said. By then, he had already reached social activists and all Jharkhand student union leaders Sanjay Mehta. He also approached the embassy, stating that it would “work on it”.
He said, “He (Mehta) drafted a formal conversation request for the foundation, which I then sent to the unknown sender,” he said.
On his behalf, Mehta confirmed that Ajay had reached him. “When we contacted him (Kaltham Foundation), he said that he can only work when he was authorized by the defense staff of Nigeria. We informed the MEA and sent a formal request, but the problem is that the abduction happened in Niger, and the foundation could not work there without permission,” said Mehta.
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On contact, Jharkhand Labor Commissioner Ravi Ranjan Kumar Vikram confirmed that he was aware of the messages that Ajay had received. “We are drafting a letter based on the incident, which will be sent to the Government of India,” he said. “We are immediately contacting the Chief Minister’s office and sending a letter. Our team members are in constant touch with the Indian Embassy”.
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