BHOPAL: A Bhil tribe family in the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh is getting ready for an early Holi this year – to welcome home their mentally challenged elder son, 35-year-old Raju Laxman Pindare, who has returned to India recently, after spending three and half years in Pakistan jail, possibly on suspicion of being an Indian spy.
While Raju’s younger brother Dilip Pindare along with a team of Khandwa district administration-police and a doctor is on his way to bring Raju back from Amritsar (Raju is in safety thereafter release from Pakistan recently), back home in Indavari village of Khandwa district, their parents, indebted small time farmer-turned-daily wager father Laxman Pindare and mother Basanta Bai, are preparing to welcome their son after three and half years with colours.
“Holi falls next month, but for us, the return of Raju will be a bigger Holi. We’d lost all hopes of seeing him again, but god, local administration-police and media support have ensured his return from Pakistan jail three and half years, after we came to know about him being arrested in Pakistan,” Raju’s father Laxman Pindare said on Sunday.
Equally excited is Raju’s younger sibling, Dilip Pindare, who will reach Amritsar on Monday morning, with a team from the Khandwa police administration and a doctor, to bring Raju back.
“I can’t wait anymore to see my brother again. Four days back, we were informed by the Khandwa district administration and police about his having been sent to India by Pakistan authorities. Before leaving for Amritsar by train on Saturday, I talked to Raju over the phone in Amritsar. He said that he was lodged in a jail in Pakistan’s Dera Ghazi Khan district, from where he was released after completing the jail term for illegally straying into Pakistan,” Dilip told TNIE over the phone.
According to Khandwa district police superintendent Vivek Singh (who has been continuously working with the central government via the state government for tracking Raju and his safe return), “We came to know through the state home department about Raju having safely returned from Pakistan around 4-5 days back, after which his family was informed about it, followed by further efforts to bring him back from Amritsar.”
Back in July 2019, the Pakistan Police had reportedly claimed to have arrested an Indian spy identified as Rajo aka Raju Laxman, who was found allegedly spying on a nuclear enrichment facility in the Rakhi Gaj area of Dera Ghazi Khan (Dg Khan) district. Pakistan Police then said that Laxman was arrested on July 29, 2019, while entering the DG Khan area from Balochistan province. He was sent to a secret place for further investigation.
Pakistan Police had in 2019 also provided some evidence against the alleged “Indian Spy” and said that Raju Lakshman had worn ‘Lux-Cozi’ inner-wear which is an Indian Brand so it proves that he is an Indian Spy. They further alleged that Lakshman was trying to spy on a nuclear enrichment facility in the eastern Punjab province. A message being circulated by Pakistani agencies had named the alleged spy’s mother as Basanta Bai and sister Mamta.
It’s, however, still not clear, how exactly Raju landed in Pakistan in 2019. Sources close to his family say that he could have ended up on a truck exporting tomatoes to Pakistan.