An uneasy silence has enveloped this double-storey house in the nondescript Kalika Plot neighbourhood of Gujarat’s ceramics hub, Morbi. This is the home of Hasina Majothi, who lives here with her mother, sister and brother, and his wife, after her only child, 22-year-old Sahil Mohamed Hussein, left to pursue an engineering degree in Russia two years ago. On Wednesday morning, the state’s Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) took Hasina and her brother Farooq to Ahmedabad for questioning about a video clip released by Ukrainian authorities that shows Sahil purportedly saying he had signed up for the “special military operation” (Russia’s term for its invasion of Ukraine) to avoid a seven-year jail term on drug charges. Subsequently, sources said, the Indian Embassy in Kyiv sought information about Sahil from Gujarat. Later Wednesday, Hasina told The Indian Express over phone from Gandhinagar, “We are trying to meet the Chief Minister and seek his intervention and help.” Back in Morbi, local community leader Kasambhai Sumara said Sahil last called his family two months ago. According to a relative Anwar Majothi, Hasina is a seamstress who married Jamnagar resident Mohamed Hussein around 23 years ago. The couple separated when Sahil was around two years old, he said. Speaking to The Indian Express, Anwar said Sahil began working in a local floor tiles factory after clearing Class 12 in the science stream from a Gujarati-medium school. “He wanted to pursue a career in Computer Science, and got admission to a university in St Petersburg. For the last two years, he has been residing in Russia,” he said. As far as the family and relatives are aware, Anwar said, Sahil also worked as an online delivery personnel for an e-commerce company in Russia and “was caught by police after he went to deliver a parcel that contained drugs”. “He was convicted for seven years. He accepted the proposal of the Russian government to get his conviction terminated and fight for Russia against Ukraine. After 16 days of training, he was put on the warfront a few days ago. He later surrendered to the Ukrainian army. We want our Government to bring Sahil back and get him reunited with his mother,” he said. Anwar, who runs a packaging materials business, said, “Hasina's family has been staying in the Kalika plot area for a long time. The couple (Hasina and Mohamed) parted voluntarily after having regular conflicts. Hasina returned to this area.” Sahil's uncle Mohammadbhai Majothi said, “Sahil’s mother had sent him abroad for better education and employment opportunities. She wanted to see her son progress and be well-settled in life. She wanted to prove a point to society, and her in-laws who are mostly educated and in government jobs.” Based on preliminary investigation, ATS officers described Sahil as a “streetsmart and enterprising young man”. “At the age of 20, he managed to find a computer engineering course in Russia, get admission and fly to a foreign country without help from any consultant. Due to the ongoing war, he got the visa fairly easily and managed to get admission at fairly cheap rates,” an officer told The Indian Express. According to ATS sources, Sahil secured admission in 2023 to a Bachelor's programme in the Faculty of Software Engineering and Computer Systems at ITMO University in St Petersburg. Officers said he paid the fee online and flew out of Ahmedabad to Azerbaijan before heading to the Russian port city. Asked about Sahil's arrest in a narcotics-related crime, ATS sources said they were checking whether he had been in touch with or was a victim of human trafficking or narcotics gangs “but nothing in this regard has come to light”. The Indian Express has learnt that following Sahil's arrest, the Indian Consulate in St Petersburg had provided the contact numbers of lawyers, and the trial had not begun when he signed up for the military.
