Hyderabad: An Indian who was duped into joining Russia’s war against Ukraine has been killed. In a post on X this week, the Indian Embassy in Moscow confirmed the death of Mohammed Asfan from Hyderabad but has not stated the cause or mentioned what he was doing in the country.
“We have learnt about the tragic death of an Indian national Shri Mohammed Asfan. We are in touch with the family and Russian authorities. Mission will make efforts to send his mortal remains to India,” the embassy said in the post.
The family of Afsan, who is among nearly two dozen Indians who were taken to Russia on the pretext of being given high-paying jobs, said they were informed about his death by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.
Owaisi was among the first to highlight the issue last month. On February 21, the AIMIM leader had said he had written to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar about men from states like Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh who were cheated in this manner and were forced to take part in the war.
On February 29, the Ministry of External Affairs said that at least 20 Indians trapped in Russia had contacted Indian authorities and that the government was doing its best to bring them back.
Many of the men who were trapped in Russia had allegedly been cheated by a Dubai-based agent, Faisal Khan, who runs a YouTube channel called ‘Baba Vlogs’. The channel has over 3 lakh subscribers and, in one of his videos, Khan showed seven passports and said, “We are working with the Russian army and seven people have received work permits for the country.”
The Indian men, some of whom had been given basic weapons training, were allegedly posted in and around Ukrainian cities like Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Mariupol. A man from Kashmir had also suffered a bullet injury to the leg. Accounts differ on whether they are fighting as part of the Russian Army or the mercenary organization, Wagner Group.
