Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Jan 13: Three persons who were on a tour of Kuwait on commercial visas were arrested and jailed at Kuwait for no fault of theirs. They have been identified as Ankit Shivappa Naik (29) from Mumbai, Krishnamurthy Shankar Naik (26) from Chitradurga who is currently settled in Bengaluru, and Nitish Ganesh Manikeri (29) from Andhra Pradesh, who is a current resident of Bengaluru.

Anand from Bengaluru, who is employed in a bank at Kuwait, has taken his handicapped son along this time. Krishnamurthy Shankar Naik had accompanied him to look after Anand's son. His two friends, Ankit Shivappa Naik and Nitish Ganesh Manikeri had also joined them as they wanted to visit tourist places in that country.

Representational image

A Kuwait-based visa agent, Mohammad Hassan, had provided commercial visas to them. All the four persons had taken a flight to Kuwait last week. After touring the country, they were to fly back on Thursday when the police stopped them at Kuwait airport. Later, they allowed Anand's son to go. Ankit, Krishnamurthy and Nitish were arrested and sent to jail without assigning any reason. There is suspicion about some fault having been found in the commercial visas provided by agent, Mohammad Hassan.

Friday is holiday in Kuwait and on account of the demise of the Sultan of Oman, the state has declared three-day public holiday. Therefore, the arrested trio have no other go but to be behind bars till Tuesday. M Mohandas Kamath from Mangaluru and Anil Prabhu Kalasa have been trying to secure their release.

Mohandas Kamath stated that they have already contacted Indian Embassy at Kuwait. None of the Kuwaiti officials could be contacted as there is holiday till Tuesday, he added.