3 min readNew DelhiApr 18, 2026 05:24 AM IST
OF THE eight naval veterans who were detained in Qatar in 2022, while seven returned in 2024, the eighth one — Commander Purnendu Tiwari — continues to remain incarcerated in Doha.
Even as the Ministry of External Affairs maintains that the officer has been detained in a separate case, his family claims the cases are “stitched together” and the Indian authorities should have been able to secure his release by now.
“The eighth naval veteran, he has a particular case against him. He was detained in that (case). It has nothing to do with the earlier case,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing when asked about the case. “The court there has given a ruling under which he has been given a sentence. We are in touch with him, with his family and lawyers. So, that is where this particular issue is.”
Earlier in the day, Tiwari’s sister Meetu Bhargava had said in a post on X: “The MEA and the Government of India have failed to secure his return. The Prime Minister had publicly stated that all 8 Navy veterans had returned to India from Doha. Yet, Commander Tiwari was left behind, while his 7 peers were brought back on 12 February 2024.”
“The explanation of ‘paper formalities’ is no longer tenable. More than two years have passed, and the consequences of this lapse have been grave,” she said, adding that Tiwari has endured nearly four years of extreme hardship in Doha and has now been languishing in jail for almost five months.
“He is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) along with other serious medical conditions. His health is deteriorating,” she said about her brother, 65, a decorated naval officer.
Talking to The Indian Express from Gwalior in the wake of the MEA statement that Tiwari was detained in a separate case, Bhargava said, “There was no separate case against Cdr Tiwari when all 8 navy veterans were kept in solitary confinement, and when all 8 came out in February 2024 also, there was no case. He should have returned with all.”
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Reports indicate that Tiwari was accused of financial irregularities related to his former employer, Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services.
However, Bhargava said that while the company owner allegedly tried to shift blame to him, the Qatari court — in a judgment on March 12, 2026 — accepted that he was not responsible for the financial liabilities of the company. She claimed that he was dragged into this case in December 2024 although he has no role in the firm’s finances. She said the family was in touch with the Indian Mission in Doha since his acquittal in March and the Indian authorities haven’t played a proactive role in securing his release and bringing him back.
A navigation specialist from the executive branch of the Navy, Tiwari commanded INS Magar and was the fleet navigating officer of the Navy’s Eastern Fleet. After retirement, he trained Singapore naval personnel before moving to Qatar. He was the first Armed Forces veteran to receive the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award. He was presented the honour in 2019 by then President Ramnath Kovind.
