Last month, Ajay Kumar from Dondlo village in Jharkhand’s Giridih district allegedly received a text message that made his blood run cold. “Hello…I believe you are related to Rajukumar who was abducted in Niger Republic,” the text message said. “He, with 4 others. Unfortunately, they were abducted by ISWAP fighters. They reached out to me to pass a message to you. Ur braza gave them ur numba.”
It didn’t take Ajay very long to figure out what this was. His friend Rajkumar Mahto was among five migrant workers from Jharkhand’s Giridh who were abducted by armed gunmen in the Tillaberi region of the West African country of Niger on April 25. Among those abducted was a Niger national.
The text also had asked Ajay to contact “a negotiator” at the Nigeria-based non-profit Kalthum Foundation for Peace. “He (Rajkumar Mahto) is a childhood friend and has only my phone number memorised,” Ajay, himself a migrant worker employed with a Dubai-based company, told The Indian Express.
Then, on July 2, just as he approached authorities and was figuring out how to act, he allegedly got the second — and more chilling — message. “You have 7 days to act or your relatives — all the 5 persons — will be history,” it read. “What is needed is known to you.”
The escalatory tone of the second message scared him, Ajay said. By then, he had already reached out to social activist and All Jharkhand Student Union leader Sanjay Mehta for help. He also approached the Embassy, which said it would “act on it”.
“He [Mehta] drafted a formal negotiation request to the foundation, which I then forwarded to the unknown sender,” he said.
On his part, Mehta confirmed that Ajay had reached out to him. “When we contacted them [the Kalthum Foundation], they said they could only act if authorised by Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff. We informed the MEA and sent a formal request, but the problem is that the abduction occurred in Niger, and the foundation can’t operate there without permission,” Mehta said.
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When contacted, Jharkhand’s Labour Commissioner Ravi Ranjan Kumar Vikram confirmed that they were aware of the messages that Ajay had received. “We are drafting a letter based on the incident, which will be sent to the Government of India,” he said. “We are also approaching the Chief Minister’s office immediately and will be sending a letter. Our team members are in continuous touch with the Indian embassy”.
