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Qatar released eight jailed Indian Navy veterans after an 18-month jail stay. Seven of them are already back in India.
According to NDTV, the Indian Navy veterans jailed in Qatar over alleged spying charges have been released on Sunday.
The government of India confirmed this on Monday early morning. The release of the veterans are welcome by the government.
In a statement the Foreign Ministry of India said, "The Government of India welcomes the release of eight Indian nationals working for the Dahra Global company who were detained in Qatar. Seven out of the eight of them have returned to India. We appreciate the decision by the Amir of the State of Qatar to enable the release and home-coming of these nationals."
According to NDTV, the veterans did not have prior information of their release and were taken away by embassy officials shortly after they were freed.They boarded an IndiGo flight on Sunday and returned after 2 am.
The released Navy veterans are Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Commander Amit Nagpal, and Sailor Ragesh. They were arrested by Qatar police in August, 2022 and had been in jail since.
They were employed by a private firm, Dahra Global, and were in Qatar to assist with the introduction of Italian U212 stealth submarines into the Qatari Emiri Naval Force in their personal roles.
