Maharaj released after 95 days in captivity

Home secretary says no ransom was paid.

QUETTA:

The 83-year-old Hindu spiritual leader Maharaj Lachmi Chand Garji and his companion were released by abductors in the early hours of Friday near the Surab area of Kalat district, around 200 kilometres from Quetta.

A group of armed men kidnapped the Maharaj and four of his companions 95 days ago near Surab, while they were travelling to Khuzdar district to attend a marriage ceremony.

The kidnappers had released three of the four companions a few hours after their abduction, while keeping the Maharaj and companion, Venud Kumar – the son of a well-known trader of Quetta – in captivity.

“The kidnappers released Maharaj and Venud Kumar at 2:00 am in a desolated place of Surab,” said Home Secretary Balochistan Akbar Hussain Durrani. He added that no money had been paid to the kidnappers as ransom for their release. “Lachmi Chand is an aged man and suffers from various illnesses. Therefore, the kidnappers feared that they would not get anything in return and freed him along with Kumar,” Durrani said.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Maharaj Lachmi Chand said that he was kept blindfolded in a dark room with his hands tied with rope and had not seen sunlight since December 21, 2010. “The kidnappers did not talk with us. I offered them money several times but they did not respond at all,” he said.

“I heard them conversing in broken Urdu. I am not sure about their caste,” he said, adding he was suffering from diabetes and kidney problems. A minister, on the condition of anonymity, told The Express Tribune that he does not believe the recovery took place without the payment of ransom.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2011.