Telangana techie enroute to Switzerland to meet online girlfriend lands in Pakistan jail

HYDERABAD: One of the two Indians arrested in Pakistan for allegedly travelling without valid documents is a software engineer from Telangana and had gone missing from here two years ago, his family said on Tuesday.

Prashant Waindham(31) had been suffering from "depression," his father Baburao said.

He and another man from Madhya Pradesh were apprehended in Pakistan's Punjab province for crossing the border 'illegally' and a case registered against them.

"We had filed a missing complaint with Madhapur police here in April 2017. He was working with an IT company in the city. He was not involved in any illegal activities. We are surprised how he went to (Pakistan)," Rao told reporters here.

He had been missing since April 11, 2017 after he did not return from office, he said. He said his son had earlier mentioned about a woman colleague who wanted to marry him, while he was working in Bengaluru.

Later, the family came to know that she had moved to Switzerland and Waindham apparently wanted to meet her.

However, there was no clarity on it, he said as Waindham was not in touch with the family since April 2017. Rao urged the Centre to secure the safe release of his son.

Reacting to Waindham's arrest, Cyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar said a video was being circulated, in which Waindham purportedly said he was apprehended in the neighbouring country and the matter was in the Court. The Telangana government has taken up the issue with the Centre, he said.

Two Indians, including one person frm #Hyderabad named V Prashant, a software engineer, have been arrested in #Pakistan by local police for illegally entering the country through Cholistan desert in Bahawalpur district. The other person arrested, Durmi Lal, is from Madhya Pradesh pic.twitter.com/A6vCqiEY3H

— TNIE Telangana (@XpressHyderabad) November 18, 2019

"Only after he comes back to India will it be known as to how and why he went there. We hope he will come back soon safely," Sajjanar said.

The missing case had been referred to as "undetected" after Waindham whereabouts were not known, police said.