Indian techie jailed in Pakistan to return Oct 25

Mumbai  : A jobless IT engineer from Mumbai who boarded the Samjhauta Express, the peace train between India and Pakistan, in 2005 during a bout of depression would be released from a Lahore jail Oct 25, a Maharashtra legislator said Monday.

Bhavesh Parmar, a resident of Vile Parle suburb in northwest Mumbai, went missing in 2005 after he lost his father to cancer and was himself sacked from job.

When his mother found that he was in a jail in Lahore in Pakistan, she sought help from legislator Krishna Hegde.

“Bhavesh’s mother Hansaben had, in February, received a letter from her son. It was delivered by another Indian prisoner from Pakistan, Ram Rajji, who had returned after being released,” Hegde told IANS.

“Hansaben sought help. I wrote to the external affairs ministry and followed it up with the Indian High Commission in Pakistan,” he added.

Hegde said that he finally received a response from the high commission stating that Bhavesh will be released Oct 25 and cross over into India at the Attari border checkpost in Punjab.

Bhavesh had lost his job after he suffered a bout of depression following the death of his father and he left home at the age of 25 and reached Amritsar.

He then boarded the Samjhauta Express, without any visa or documents. However, it is still not clear as to how he managed to board the high-security train to Pakistan.

On reaching Pakistan, he was detained because he had neither a visa nor any documents to prove his identity or nationality.