The family of Zulfiqar Khan, who went missing in Kenya in July along with Mohammed Zaid Sami Kidwai, is hopeful that the two are still alive and will be found.
Zulfiqar Khan, the ex-COO of of Balaji Telefilms and his friend Zaid Sami Kidwai reportedly went missing while on holiday in Kenya on July 22. Nicodemus Mwange, a Kenyan national who was their taxi driver the previous night, also disappeared along with them. As per reports, Zulfiqar and Zaid were part of the Kenya Kwanza digital campaign team when they went missing.
Amidst reports that the two were killed by the Special Service Unit (SSU), Zulfiqar’s family have steadfastly maintained that he is alive.
His older brother, Iftikhar Khan, who is based in Dubai, recently travelled to Kenya to meet government officials investigating the matter and returned to Delhi on Monday.
“The Kenyan police clearly stated that they had absolutely no evidence to conclude that Zulfiqar is no longer with us. The Indian High Commissioner insisted that the investigation be conducted purely based on evidence and the police agreed. They then took us to see the clothes, belt and shoes recovered during their search operation. I examined every item and submitted a signed letter stating that not a single item belongs to Zulfiqar,” Iftikhar told Hindustan Times.
A probe had been launched after reports that the two were killed by the SSU, a rogue arm of the Kenyan Police which has been disbanded. A team of 100 Kenyan police officials scoured the route from where the trio was kidnapped, about 150 km from Nairobi in the Aberdare forest reserve where they found bones, clothes and belts which had been believed to have belonged to Khan, Kidwai and their Kenyan driver.
Khan told India Today that the Indian High Commission in Kenya and the Ministry of External Affairs have been very supportive but “things were not moving.”
“The family is going through a very difficult time but we are all very hopeful, especially after the support from the government and the Indian High Commissioner, that they will get the boys back,” he said.
Iftikhar, who met the Indian High Commissioner in Kenya, the Kenyan Director of Public Prosecutions and the Kenyan Director of Criminal Investigations, proposed that a team of Indian investigators visit Kenya to assist the local police with the probe, as per Hindustan Times. The Indian High Commissioner assured to take this up with the concerned ministers in the Kenyan and Indian governments.
While there is no concrete information about the cause of the disappearance, President Ruto’s close aid Dennis Itumbi tweeted that they had been killed by Kenya’s disbanded DCI unit.
Khan, Kidwai and their taxi driver were all dragged into another car and killed in what he called the ‘killer waiting bay’ – a container used to kill Kenyans at a police station in the past. “After three days, the trio were put in a vehicle and sent towards Aberdares, over 150 kilometers from the capital Nairobi,” Itumbi had added.
President Ruto had ordered the disbandment of Special Service Unit or SSU last month after a probe into the disappearance of the two Indians was linked to the unit, according to a report in The Nation newspaper. The SSU works under Kenya’s DCI that is tasked primarily with intelligence gathering and evidence collection where crimes of a complex nature occur. They are however infamously termed Kenya’s ‘killer’ police unit.
Kenyan authorities assured a speedy probe into the disappearance earlier in October after The Indian High Commissioner in Nairobi met Kenyan President Willaim Ruto and conveyed its “deep concern” over the matter.
While reports suggest that the two were in Kenya as part of the Kenya Kwanza digital campaign team and had contributed to the success of President Ruto’s campaign (as per Itumbi), Iftikhar told Hindustan Times that his brother was not involved in politics.
“Zulfiqar never had anything to do with politics. The Masai Mara wildlife reserve was his only hook and we were making plans to visit the place with the entire family in September, to watch the great migration,” said Iftikhar.
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