Satara MP Shrinivas Patil helps free 2 Marathi youngsters in captivity at Iran

Karad: Two Indian youths from the Merchant Navy held captive in Iran were released after nine months. The release came after Satara MP Srinivas Patil interfered in the matter. The two youths, who were released from Iran, have expressed their gratitude to MP Patil for his timely and immediate help.

Virendra Anandrao Patil, a resident of Shirwade and Bharat Ravindra Patil, a resident of Kavtemahankal, Sangli were both employed in the Merchant Navy. They went to Iran for work on a ship called Libra through an agency in Mumbai. Iranian forces arrested ten to twelve people aboard the ship for security reasons in Iran’s territorial waters.

After the arrest, they were taken to a prison in the port of Bushehr. The mobile phones and passport of these employees were also confiscated and the youths lost contact with their families.

Meanwhile, a sister of the youth’s Iranian friend came to meet in prison. As she could understand little Urdu, the two tried to reach their family with her help. Later, she through WhatsApp made contact with the youth’s family.  Thereafter the incident of two Indian national’s captivity came to light in their respective districts.

The whole story was later addressed to MP Srinivas Patil’s son Sarang  by the parents of these youths. After that, MP Patil contacted the former Ambassador of India Dnyaneshwar Mule. With his help and follow-up of social activist Sanjay Parashar, the youths were released. After passing the legal formalities, the youth returned home and first met Srinivas Patil and Sarang Patil  to express their gratitude.

This is not the first time that an Indian has been captive and put behind bars, The Middle-East countries have the highest number of Indian prisoners in foreign jails, shown data shared by the external affairs ministry. Earlier also, Iran released seven Indian captives in September last year.++