Shocked family members of Indian telecom engineer K Suryanarayanan, who was abducted by the Taliban in Afghanistan on Friday, have appealed to the abductors to release him unharmed.
The Indian engineer, in his early 40s, has been working with a Bahraini firm -- Al Moayad -- in Afghanistan since January 2006.
Perturbed over the news of the abduction and the dire threats held out by Taliban, Suryanarayanan's father K Chandrasekhar and other family members urged the Indian government to take prompt steps for his safe release.
The shell-shocked family first got the news about the abduction when an official of the Regional Passport Office in Hyderabad informed them. The officer Bala Bhaskar assured them that the Ministry of External Affairs was in constant contact with the Indian Embassy in Kabul and efforts were on to secure the Hyderabadi engineer's release.
Suryanarayanan's wife K Manjula, two daughters, a son and his aged parents are being consoled by relatives and friends who rushed to their house at Anandbagh in Malkajgiri municipality on the city outskirts.
Manjula told newsmen that her husband, a telecom engineer, had worked with Tata Teleservices in Hyderabad before joining the Bahraini firm four months ago. He had come on a visit to Hyderabad earlier in April and had returned to Afghanistan.
"He was with us just 20 days ago and spoke to us over the phone three days back. We never thought he would be kidnapped. He has not harmed anyone and we hope that the abductors would not harm him and release him immediately," Manjula said.
More from rediff