India Raises Issue Of Two Missing Nationals With Kenyan President

India on Tuesday raised with Kenya the issue of two Indian nationals who went missing in the east African country in July last year.

The missing Indians were identified as Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan and Zaid Sami Kidwai. There were reports that they were abducted.

India flagged its concerns over the two missing Indians during delegation-level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto, according to officials.

The Kenyan president is on a three-day visit to India.

“The issue of missing Indians did come up,” Dammu Ravi, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs, told a media briefing while replying to a question on the case.

“The authorities on both sides have been in contact with each other and information is being shared between the two sides (relating to the case),” he said.

“At this point, we should not speculate because the investigation is ongoing. It is a sub-judice matter in the courts of Kenya. We will have to wait and see how things move,” Mr Ravi added.

It is learnt that more than 10 people were arrested in connection with the case.

Indian High Commissioner to Kenya Namgya Khampa said the mission “continues to monitor these developments and continues to be engaged with the authorities in Kenya”.

The Indian envoy to Kenya had met Ruto as well and requested him for expediting the investigation in the matter.

A media report in October last year said a close aide of the Kenyan president had claimed that the two missing Indians were killed by the disbanded Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) unit.

However, there was no official word on it.