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Hyderabad academics abducted in Libya last year rescued

  • Prof. Gopikrishna and Prof. Balram have been rescued by security forces in Misrata
  • The two professors were abducted in Libya by suspected ISIS militants in July 2015. 
  • There is still no word however, on Dr K Ramamurthy, a general physician from Andhra Pradesh who was kidnapped from his hospital in Libya in September last year.
Hyderabad academics abducted in Libya last year rescued

For the last thirteen months, the Libya desk of the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi received calls from two families in Hyderabad almost every day. They would want to know if there has been any word on the two professors abducted in Libya by suspected ISIS militants in July 2015. 

 

The pain and agony of the two families have finally come to an end, with the news that Prof. Gopikrishna and Prof. Balram have been rescued by security forces in Misrata, along with four other captives, two each from Korea and Libya. Union minister for External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, tweeted about the development on Thursday morning.

Hyderabad academics abducted in Libya last year rescued

Sridevi, Balram's wife received a call around midnight on Wednesday. “The call lasted hardly a minute,” said Sridevi, who teaches at a college in Hyderabad. “He was keen to know about the children while all I wanted to know was about his health. He said he is fine and will return soon.”

 

In fact, on July 29 last year, four professors - two from Hyderabad and two from Karnataka - teaching at Sirte university in Libya, were travelling to the airport to catch the flight back to India when they were kidnapped by suspected ISIS militants.

 

Rather inexplicably, they decided to release the two professors from Karnataka after a few hours but the two Hyderabadis - Prof Gopikrishna and Prof Balram - continued to be in their captivity. While 40-year-old Gopikrishna has been working in Libya since 2007, 50-year-old Balram was in Libya for the past four years.

Hyderabad academics abducted in Libya last year rescued

Prof Gopikrishna too called his wife and parents around the same time to say he is fine. The duo will now travel to Tripoli, 210 km away before catching a flight back to India. In all likelihood, they would be interviewed by MEA officials on what really happened in the last 13-odd months and debriefed, before they are allowed to speak to the media. 

Gopikrishna was teaching computer science while Balram taught English at Sirte University. Initial reports last year suggested that some of their students were part of the ISIS militant ranks which ensured they were not harmed. But subsequently there was no information on what they were doing since their abduction.

The families who met just about anyone who could possibly help, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were hoping that the professors will be released during the holy month of Ramadan in July but it did not happen.

 

There is still no word however, on Dr K Ramamurthy, a general physician from Andhra Pradesh who was kidnapped from his hospital in the Ibn-e-Sina area of Sirte in Libya in September last year.

 

The initial information trickling in was that Ramamurthy lodged with the two professors. Dr Ramamurthy was practising in Libya for the last 16 years and was in fact planning to return to India as trouble had broken out there. His family in Hyderabad is on tenterhooks.

 

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