- Sunday, April 28, 2024
An unidentified caller reportedly demanded $1,200 from the family and threatened to sell a kidney of the student if it failed.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE family of an Indian student studying in the US, who went missing, has been spending sleepless nights after having received a ransom call demanding nearly a lakh rupees ($1,200/£947). The caller, whose identity was not known, told the boy’s parents that he had been kidnapped and that they would sell his kidney if they failed to pay the money.
Abdul Mohammed, who is aged 25 and is from the city of Hyderabad in the southern state of Telangana, left for the US in May last year to pursue master’s degree in Information Technology at Cleveland University in Ohio.
According to a report by NDTV, his family members claimed that they have failed to connect with him since March 7.
Read: Student from India’s Hyderabad dies of cardiac arrest in Canada
Abdul’s father Mohammed Saleem reportedly got a call last week that informed him about his son getting abducted by drug sellers in Cleveland.
Read: US cop who fatally hit Indian student in Seattle won’t face criminal charges
The caller then sought the money to release Abdul but did not specify the mode of payment. He also threatened the family that they would sell one of Abdul’s kidneys to the mafia if they did not pay the amount, the family said.
The terrified family then informed their relatives in the US who then filed a missing complaint with the police in Cleveland. The student was wearing a white T-shirt, red jacket and blue jeans when he was last seen, the police said in their watch order and shared his picture.
Abdul’s family has also approached the Indian Consulate in Chicago on Monday (18) to help it track him.
Nine Indian students have died under various conditions in the US in less than three months in 2024. Recently, a 20-year-old engineering student from the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in Boston was found dead inside a car in a forest area. Initial probe ruled out anything suspicious, the Indian Consulate General in New York said.
