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Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (DV)
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Mangaluru, Dec 7: The eleven persons from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, all office-bearers of Kuwait-based Navachetana Welfare Association who were arrested last month in Kuwait for performing Satyanarayana puja on Monday December 7 said that the reason for their arrest was still unclear and alleged that someone had hatched a conspiracy against their association by giving false complaint to the Kuwait authorities.

Addressing a press meet in the city on Monday December 7, K V Purushotham Kukian, said on behalf of the Association that he along with 10 others were arrested 10 days after the puja was performed.

"On October 16, 2015, Navachetana Welfare Association, which is known for social service activities, had organized a puja in Kuwait, and this had been already informed to the Indian embassy there. The puja was performed in the basement of an apartment within the four walls and behind closed doors, as it performed every year. Nearly 150 people along with their families had participated in it. There is no provision to perform puja in public places in Kuwait, so it was observed in the basement within closed doors. The hall where it was performed has valid permission. We had been performing this puja since 2011.

"After 10 days of the puja, on October 26, Association member Yadav Poojary was called by his company HR and his passport was taken away and he was sent away with CID police. He was missing since then. On the same night, Association president Ashok Salian was also arrested. In the next five days nine people who had various responsibilities in the association were arrested," he said.

"After the Kuwait CID police took us, we were kept in an undisclosed location. We did not even know why we were arrested. When this was informed to the Indian embassy there was no positive response. Later a social activist from there contacted the Indian foreign ministry. As per the ministry's directions, the embassy officials took this case seriously.

"The officers who arrested us did not reveal why they had done so. The Kuwait State security department asked us for clarification on the puja, but even they did not explain what crime we had committed. We suspect that there was a conspiracy and someone gave false complaint to the officials to try and frame the association. This also put committee members in a fix unnecessarily," he said.

"The Institution which examined the details of those arrested failed to file a case because both the Association as well as the office-bearers have a clean record. They then deported us. On November 13, nine of us came to India while the remaining two came on November 17," he added.

Thanking MPs Nalin Kumar Kateel and Shobha Karandlaje for their efforts, he said, "Taking special interest in this case, Mangaluru MP Nalin Kumar Kateel and Udupi MP Shobha Karandlaje brought this issue to the notice of union minisers Sushma Swaraj and Ananth Kumar, who in turn took the initiative to bring us back to India.

"Later on November 29, Association former secretary Santosh Rai and president Ashok Salian also spoke to Sushma Swaraj and Ananth Kumar and gave detailed information on what had taken place. Sushwa Swaraj also assured that very soon she would make efforts to remove our names from the blacklist so that we can go back to Kuwait and work again. We thank the ministers, and also thank association members and activists as well as the media who helped us," Kukian said.

In an appeal to the central government through the media, he said, "We request the Indian government to look into the matter and make it possible for us to get our service benefits from the companies we were working for, and also to discharge our charges which have been falsely alleged by some persons without any reason, and we pray to grant us the same visas to join work in the same companies."

Yadav Sanil, Ashok Kodikal, Sathish K Belvai, Kumar Poojary Vamanjoor, Umesh Shetty Udupi, and Prashant Shetty Mijar, who were among those arrested in Kuwait, were present.