After spending nearly 28 years in Pakistan jail on espionage charges, 59-year-old Kuldeep Kumar Yadav reached his home in Sabarmati in Ahmedabad last week.
The home of a relieved family, that had to run from pillar to post to get him back, is being flocked by neighbours, relatives, and media to hear his story.
"I am relieved that I am back home. I was sent to Pakistan in 1992 for two years and before I could return, I was arrested," he told media persons while narrating his ordeal at his home.
He said that he was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Pakistan and spent the majority of his jail term at Kot-Lakhpat jail, where he also met Sarabjit Singh, a resident of Punjab who died there despite several attempts to bring him back.
While talking to reporters, Kuldip said he was tortured in jail which was 'natural'. "I was arrested in the target country (Pakistan) which would naturally torture. I survived by the grace of god," he said. He has sought financial assistance from the government on the ground that he worked for the country and the government should give him benefits like any other government employee.
"I have nothing left here. I can't survive on my brother and sister alone. I need some money, a house and other facilities. As of today, I don't even have money to buy new clothes. What I am wearing is given to me by Pakistan," Kuldip said.
"I don't remember a single platform where we didn't go to get my brother back. Right from local leaders to Gujarat chief minister, prime ministers of different governments and Presidents of India, I had knocked on the doors of everyone to get my brother back. You can't imagine our happiness that he is sitting amongst us now," said Rekha Yadav, Kuldeep's sister who had vowed never to get married until his brother was back.
Rekha works with Border Security Force (BSF) and is currently posted in Jodhpur. Kuldip's parents migrated to Ahmedabad from Dehradun in the 1970s. His father was working with ONGC.