Television and film producer Ekta Kapoor has requested the Indian government to step in to guarantee the safe return of a former chief operating officer (COO) of Balaji Telefilms, Zulfiqar Khan, who vanished in Kenya months ago. Kapoor is the owner of Balaji Telefilms.
In an Instagram post, Kapoor wrote: “Our ex coo of @balajitelefilmslimited has disappeared from Nairobi almost three months ago. I request @meaindia @kenyaredcross to kindly look into this.”
Bandra resident Zulfiqar Khan has been missing in Nairobi, Kenya, since July this year. After his family’s appeals to the Indian government did not yield any result, they and his friends launched an online campaign — #BringZulfiBack — hoping to catch the government’s attention.
The 48-year-old entertainment industry veteran stepped down from the post of Balaji Telefilms COO in May this year. In July, he went on a vacation to Kenya’s Masai Mara and was due to return on July 24. However, Khan has not been in touch with his family since July 21.
His family sought the help of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Indian High Commission in Kenya.
According to his relative Aquil Hussain, Khan had been to a party in Kenya with some Indian nationals. He and another person had taken a taxi driven by a local. “The next morning, the vehicle was found with all its doors open, its engine still running. There was no sign of the occupants,” Hindustan Times had quoted Hussain as saying.
His family learnt about the disappearance when a Kenyan advocate Ahmednasir Abdullahi contacted them after obtaining details about Khan. Abdullahi has filed a writ petition in the Kenyan court seeking an investigation following a police complaint filed by the missing Kenyan taxi driver’s family.
Earlier this month, the MEA said they were keeping a close watch on the case of the two missing Indian nationals in Kenya.
“Our high commission has been in continuous touch with the Kenyan authorities. We are also in touch with some family members. We are keeping a close eye,” The Times of India quoted MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi as saying in Delhi earlier.
Meanwhile, Kenyan media reports said Khan and the other missing Indian Zaid Sami Kidwai were ‘IT experts’ and were in the country to help current Kenyan President William Ruto with the election campaign. The media had claimed that the two were abducted by Ruto’s detractors.
