RAICHUR: If it hadn't been for an alert and concerned Libyan taxi-driver who found a mobile phone that belonged to one of the four Indian professors from Sirte University, Libya, Indian authorities would have not been galvanized into action and two of the four, would have remained in ISIS custody. The four were kidnapped at gun-point from the Libyan's taxi by gunmen manning a check-point barely 50 kms out of the city on Wednesday.
As celebrations broke out in Bangarpet town in Kolar district and here in Bengaluru at the homes of Lakshmikanth and Vijay Kumar respectively as news broke that they had been released, Mr. Lakshmikanth's wife spoke of the braveheart driver who called and alerted them and set the ball in motion for their loved one's release.
Mr Lakshmikanth Ramakrishna, originally from Raichur, working as an assistant professor at the Sirte University, was on his way back home to India with three other Indians on July 29 - Vijay Kumar from Mulbagal in Kolar district and Balram and Gopikrishna from Hyderabad when they were taken at gunpoint from the taxi they were taking to Tripoli airport. Lakshmikanth's wife Prathibha, said she was dumbstruck, horrified when she got that first call from the taxi driver, whom the kidnappers had sent back.
"The taxi driver contacted us from the mobile which may have accidentally fallen in the vehicle, when Lakshmikanth was going to the airport and was grabbed by the kidnappers”, Mrs Prathibha said. Not only did the wife and parents of Lakshmikanth start praying for his safe return, his father Ramakrishna met the deputy commissioner and the superintended of police and sought the help of both state and union governments in the release of his son.
Vijay Kumar and few other professors at the University had been planning to leave Libya for good last year itself as they sensed trouble, but they were forced to stay on for another year by the varsity authorities.
“This year, they managed to persuade the varsity authorities to accept their resignations and after settlement of their dues, they were on the way to the airport when the four were detained by the ISIS,” Hemant Kumar, brother of Vijay Kumar told Deccan Chronicle.
