JOIN USI was not tortured in IS captivity, says engineer
Pravash Ranjan Samal, the 48-year-old biomedical engineer from Odisha who was kidnapped by suspected Islamic State (IS) members in Libya said he was never tortured in their captivity.
Samal, who was abducted from Sirte town in the North African country last month, said he was also provided two meals a day.
A native of the coastal Kendrapara district, Samal landed in New Delhi on Wednesday where he met foreign ministry and intelligence officials, including National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, before returning home on Friday.
Speaking about his abduction, Samal said he was resting at his residential quarter inside the premises of the hospital where he worked in the strife-torn Libyan town around midnight on September 7. “I was blindfolded and taken to an unknown place in a vehicle. I was frightened but the only relief was both the men were unarmed,” he said. He was taken to a prison-like room which was locked from outside. After spending the next 10 days in solitary confinement, he managed to free himself from the clutches of his captors with the help of a few locals who he knew. He had been working in the hospital since 2002. He managed to reach the Indian mission in Tripoli from where he was flown to New Delhi. “I am grateful to the Indian government for helping me return home”, he said.
He said he had never thought of leaving Libya after the war broke out there in 2011 as he was working in the health sector. Till his abduction, he also had no problem in the country. “Now I am not sure whether I will ever return to Libya,” he said.