New Delhi: Eight former Indian Navy officers have been detained in Doha since August 30. Among those detained is retired commander Punendu Tiwari. His sister Dr Meetu Bhargava who lives in Gwalior has sought help from the government to bring her brother back.

‘My brother has been illegally detained in Doha’

She told ANI, “I made a tweet on October 25 and appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring back my brother who is in illegal detention in Doha, Qatar. My brother is a retired commander navy officer and he went there to provide training to Qatar Navy through his company Dahra Global Consultancy Services”.

“There are a total of eight ex-Indian Navy officers, including my brother lying in illegal detention. They were picked up by the Qatar police during the night on August 30. There were no charges against them. Neither the Qatar government told us nor the Indian government have information about any charges imposed on them,” she added.

Tiwari talked to his mother two weeks ago

Tiwari had talked to his mother two weeks ago. He is not healthy at all, he is a senior citizen and suffering from several diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and others. It’s been 70 days since they were in solitary confinement, she added.

Bhargava further claimed that even the MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) also reacted after 65 days of the detention. They should try to bring them as soon as possible.

Conferred with Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award 

“My brother always told us that he had not done anything wrong. Even he was conferred with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award by the Indian government on the recommendation of the Qatar government,” she claimed.

No charges have been framed against them. Therefore, we are worried about them and we request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring back all the eight ex-navy officials as soon as possible, Bhargava added.