- The petition was filed by Fatima Zacharia, a sister of Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan who went missing in Kenya.
- The two Indians are part of a team that had come to Kenya to join an IT team that ran President William Ruto's election campaigns.
A case in which a woman has petitioned an Indian court to compel the government to ‘release’ his brother Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan who went missing in Kenya has been set for September 4.
The single-judge bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad issued the fresh order on August 17 directing the country’s Ministry of External Affairs to file a status report within three weeks.
“Notice was issued on July 12; the status report has yet not been filed. Let the status report be positively filed within three weeks,” the judge directed.
In her petition, Fatima Zacharia sought orders from the court to have the Indian government use all possible channels to coordinate with the Kenyan authorities to ascertain her brother's whereabouts.
She claims that his brother was being detained in Kenya.
It has been filed through lawyers Sagrika Tanwar and Nishant Signh.
“To the best of the knowledge of the petitioner and their family, they are being detained on the authority of and on the instruction of Kenyan Local Police. The petitioner has no information as to where her brother, his friend and driver are as of today, whether they are alive or not and whether they are kept in custody,” the petition reads.
The plea states that the 49-year-old, a media professional who previously worked with Balaji Telefilms, Eros, and Warner Brothers, had traveled to Kenya on a tourist visa on June 24.
It further states that on July 22, 2022, Khan and his friend Zaid Sami KidwaI who is also missing, were around Westlands, Ole Sereni, when some people claiming to be police officers “unlawfully and arbitrarily” intercepted their vehicle and hijacked it.
“The abduction allegedly appears to be politically motivated for which not much help has been forthcoming despite numerous efforts which are still ongoing by the petitioner and the rest of the family including the Kenyan authorities,” it states.
The court heard that several requests through the Indian embassy in Nairobi had been made but no satisfactory action had been taken so far.
“The family has not been informed of the status of the investigation nor have they received any other information from the Kenyan authorities,” Zacharia told the court.
She told the court to direct the Indian authorities to use all available channels to coordinate with the Kenyan authorities to establish her brother's whereabouts.
The two Indians are part of a team that had come to Kenya to join an IT team that ran President William Ruto's election campaigns.
They are said to have been abducted near Ole Sereni alongside their driver Nicodemus Mwania and driven away in an unmarked car.
Reports indicate their car was blocked and armed men picked them up before vanishing.
Officers from the then-notorious Special Service Unit (SSU) which has been disbanded are linked to the disappearance of the trio.
The unit which had 58 officers was disbanded on orders from President Ruto who raised serious concerns over a spike in extrajudicial killings in the country.
In May, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mohamed Amin approved charges against the officers as it awaits the DNA results to decide whether to prefer murder charges against the suspects.
They are set to face charges of abduction and conspiracy to commit an offence.
“In respect of the investigation into the proposed offence of murder, we note that the said report from the government chemist analyst and the DNA sample is not yet ready,” reads a letter from Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Joseph Riungu to the director of Internal Affairs Unit.
"The decision on the said proposed charge will be made when the same is completed and analysed. Consequently, you are directed to arraign the said suspects to answer to the said charges," it adds.
At least 21 officers from the unit have been grilled.