ONGOLE: The kidnap of a private company employee of Prakasam district, Aisetty Venkata Pawan Kumar, in Nigeria has sent shock waves among his family members.
Though 35-year-old Pawan Kumar was kidnapped more than a week ago, he was allowed to speak to his relatives only on Thursday and it appeared he was held hostage in a jungle.
His family members do not have a clue as to who has kidnapped him and why. When Pawan called his relatives, his abductors only allowed him to tell them that he was in their captivity. While speaking, Pavan had told his family members that he was being tortured.
Pavan Kumar’s uncle Srinivasa Rao, who received the phone call, said that they had sent a representation to the Indian Embassy in Nigeria and also to the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi on Feb 22 seeking their help in securing Pawan Kumar’s release from his abductors.
“We have not yet got any proper response from the Ministry of External Affairs except an ID number for their representation and a vague assurance that they were taking steps to secure Pawan’s release on Feb 22.
Srinivasa Rao said that a person from Kenya, who became Pawan’s friend on social media, had called him (Srinivasa Rao) and told him that the president of Nigeria is seized of the issue and that they are expecting a happy ending to the nightmare.
Pawan’s family belongs to Guntur but relocated themselves to Kandukuru in Prakasam district for business purpose.
After his father Nageswar’s death five years ago, his mother Venkataratnam and another younger brother Venkatasai shifted to Guntur. Pawan married Annapurna who belongs to Guntur about three and half years ago and has a two-year-old daughter Talvy and five-month-old boy Sai. His family lives in Guntur. Pawan was sent to Nigeria by the agriculture products company in which he works on November 9 last year.ens