Mangaluru : Mihim Ibrahim Dahir a Somalian married to a man from Belthangady has sought financial help from the public to help her husband who she says has been implicated in a false case in Uganda.
Mihim Ibrahim Dahir, who returned to India on Wednesday with the help of an organisation called M Friends Facebook Group with her three children, said her husband Rasheed Shafi, who moved to Uganda eight years ago in search of greener pastures, was falsely implicated in a robbery case and jailed.
Rasheed Vital, member of a Facebook group working to help Shafi and a social worker, said the incident involving Shafi took place eight months ago in Namugongo, close to Kampala (Uganda) where he was working with a Gujarat-headquartered firm as a marketing manager. Last July, he was robbed of about Rs 12 lakh in cash and documents when he was returning home after work. A gang waylaid Rasheed, robbed him at knife-point and fled.
After the incident, he called his family and filed a police complaint. The company held him responsible for the loss of cash and set a deadline to repay the amount. When he couldn’t, the company filed a case against him in October and he was sent to jail. He was released on bail in December.
However, local police seized all his documents, including the passport, and he cannot return to India. He can’t work in Uganada unless he repays the lost money to the owners.
Rasheed Vital added that soon after the incident, they contacted local politicians and wrote a letter to Sushma Swaraj, minister for external affairs. “The minister responded positively and directed us to contact the Indian embassy in Uganada but they did not respond to our pleas,” he said.
Rasheed’s wife and children are helpless. The Facebook group, which contacted some friends and well-wishers in Uganda and West Asia, arranged money and food for the family. They also helped bring Rasheed’s wife and three children — aged five, three and one years — to India. Rasheed married Mihim six years ago. His children hold Indian passports while his wife is a Somalian citizen.
Mr. Shafi’s father, G. Mohammed Shafi, said: “Though he filed a complaint of robbery, the company accused my son of misappropriation and he was arrested.” With his pension of Rs. 2,500, he could not pay Rs. 12 lakh for the release of his son’s passport, he added.
Rasheed Shafi neeed needs around Rs 12 lakh to enable his return to India.