Detained in Iran for clicking pictures, Maharashtra man returns home after 2 months

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: An engineer from Nanded in central Maharashtra has returned after spending almost two months in detention in Iran for allegedly clicking photographs in a restricted zone.

Yogesh Panchal (33) was released earlier this week after an intervention by the Ministry of External Affairs, said Rajya Sabha member and local BJP leader Ajit Gopchade.

He returned to India on February 4.

Panchal, who hails from Vasmat in Nanded district, told reporters that he visited Iran in the first week of December for exploring business opportunities.

"I landed in Tehran on December 7. I went for sight-seeing and shot some photos and videos like other tourists, and sent them to my family back home," he said.

"On the same day I was apprehended from my hotel room and taken to a detention centre," Panchal said.

He was accused of shooting videos and photos in a restricted zone. "I was blindfolded all the time. They kept me in a local detention centre for 59 days," he said.

He was treated well during the incarceration, Panchal said, adding, "The guards never even touched me. But they had their process, and I had to go through it." The family, in the meanwhile, had approached MP Gopchade, seeking help for his release.

Shraddha, Panchal's wife, said she managed to talk to her husband over phone only on February 1.

According to Gopchade, when a lawyer engaged by the family visited the Iranian Embassy in Delhi, the officials there did not cooperate.

"But when the Ministry of External Affairs intervened, they took up the case and a hearing was conducted, leading to his release," the MP said.