iNDICA NEWS BUREAU–
A student from Hyderabad, India has gone missing in the US while his family here has received a ransom call. Mohammed Abdul Arfath, 25, who is pursuing a master’s degree in Information Technology at Cleveland University, Ohio, has not been in touch with the family since March 7. His parents, who live in Malkajgiri district near Hyderabad in the southern Indian state of Telangana, received a call demanding a ransom of $12,000. The unidentified caller informed them their son had been kidnapped and threatened to sell his kidney.
Arfath went to the US for higher studies in May 2023.
Last week, his father, Mohammed Saleem, received a phone call from an unknown person claiming that his son had been kidnapped by a gang selling drugs in Cleveland. The caller demanded the ransom but did not mention the mode of payment. Saleem informed his relatives in the US, who filed a missing complaint with the Cleveland police, which issued a watch order. According to the order, Arfath was wearing a white T-shirt, a red jacket, and blue jeans.
The family also wrote to the Indian Consulate in Chicago on March 18 to help trace Abdul. Saleem has also appealed to External Affairs S. Jaishankar for help in locating his son.
The Indian Consulate in New York posted on X (formerly Twitter that they are touch with US authorities on this case. “@IndiaInNewYork is in touch with the Mr. Mohammad Abdul Arfath’s family and authorities in the US. We are working with local law enforcement agencies to find him at the earliest.”
