New Delhi: An Indian national, identified as Adarsh Behera from Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district, has been kidnapped in the war-torn Sudan, in northeast Africa, reported NDTV.
Behera has been taken hostage by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary force previously operated by the Sudanese government. Since 2023, Sudan is in the middle of a civil war which broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and RSF. Violent clashes and devastating conflict resulted in around 13 million people being displaced from their homes, capital Khartoum bearing the brunt.
A video sent to NDTV shows Behera sitting between two RSF soldiers.
“Do you know Shah Rukh Khan?” one of the soldiers asks Behera.
Another soldier prompts him to tell at the camera, “Dagalo good.”
‘Dagalo’ refers to Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, aka ‘Hemeti,’ the dreaded leader of the RSF.
Behera was reportedly kidnapped from Al Fashir city, about 1,000 km from Khartoum, and taken to Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state which is known to be an RSF stronghold.
Behera’s family told NDTV that the 36-year-old has been working in Sudan since 2022 for Sukarati Plastic Factory. He and wife Susmita have two sons, aged 8 and 3.
In a video Behera’s family shared with NDTV, he was seen sitting on the floor with folded hands, pleading into the camera, “I am here in Al Fashir where the situation is very bad. I have been living here for two years with great difficulty. My family and children are very worried. I request the state (Odisha) government to help me.”
