Former Indian Navy officer among eight arrested in Qatar

DOHA – Authorities in Qatar have arrested eight retired officer of Indian navy, including two commanders, who were working for a private company in Doha.

One of the two ex-commanders has been identified as Purnendu Tiwari who has received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award in 2019 from the then Indian President, Ram Nath Kovind.

The arrest of former Indian navy officials came to light after a woman, Dr Meetum Bhargava, shared a post on social media in this regard.

In the post, she had urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri and other officials to take steps to bring the detained former official back to India.

All the arrested persons were associated with Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services. However, their employer has issued not statement about their arrest.

Meanwhile, an Indian official said that efforts are being made to contact the Qatari administration to know the reason behind their arrest.