JOIN USA pall of gloom descended at the Silver Oak Apartments here, the residence of Kulbhushan Jadhav, the businessman who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistan military court.
Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, has been accused of being a Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) agent, the external intelligence agency of India. The Jadhav family, which stays at the fifth floor of the building, were unavailable for comments. Police security has been tightened around his residence.
However, some people, who came out of the building, said what they had heard was unfortunate. “It is sad...he was a good boy...we are with the family,” one of them said.
Another said that while people like JuD founder Hafiz Saeed and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim are safe and given protection in Pakistan, an innocent man is being targeted. Jadhav, who was reportedly living as Hussein Mubarak Patel, was arrested on March 3 last year from Balochistan’s Mashkel region and was dubbed as a spy, a claim rejected by the Indian government.
Jadhav joined the National Defence Academy in 1987 and was commissioned into Navy in 1991. He took premature retirement and became a businessman. Jadhav’s father Sudhir and uncle Subhash retired as former assistant commissioners of police. The family hails from Satara in western Maharashtra.
Last year on Change.org a campaign titled ‘Save Kulbhushan Jadhav: Bring Him Back’ was launched and it stated, “He is just a common citizen of India, a retired naval officer and now a successful businessman.