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Journalism of Courage
Two young men from Fatehabad, Haryana, have been trapped in the Russia-Ukraine war zone after allegedly being lured into joining the Russian Army under false pretenses. Their families have had no contact with them for the past eight days.
One of the youths, Ankit Jangra (23), is the son of a mason, while the other, Vijay Poonia (24), is the son of a small farmer. Ankit’s brother, Raghuvir Jangra, told The Indian Express on Thursday, “Ankit, who studied up to Class 12, went to Moscow on a study visa in February this year through a Faridabad-based immigration agent. In total, including airfare, he spent nearly ?5 lakh to secure admission in a college and also worked as a helper in a restaurant.”
“In June, Vijay Poonia travelled to Russia on a business visa. In August, he met a Russian woman who lured both of them with an offer of ?2.5 lakh per month for a security-related job. She never disclosed that they would be sent to a war zone. She also promised an advance of ?51 lakh within 21 days of joining,” Jangra added.
He further said, “The woman had assured them of three months of training before deployment, but they were given only 15 days. On September 7, Ankit and Vijay made a WhatsApp call to me and said that during training, they felt like they were staring death in the face. They told us they were being sent to fight in the war against Ukraine.
They also shared video clips through social media, but later their Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook accounts were deleted.”
According to Jangra, the last call from Ankit and Vijay came on September 9 via WhatsApp. “He said, ‘We are being threatened at gunpoint. If we try to escape, they will kill us.’ He repeated that they were being taken to the war zone. After that, we received only one text message via Telegram on September 10, in which they pleaded for help to secure their release,” Jangra said.
Jangra stated that he met Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on September 11 and again on September 14. “The Chief Minister assured us that the government is making every effort to bring them back safely,” he said. Community members also met the Chief Minister in Rohtak on Wednesday to press for their safe return.
Fatehabad Superintendent of Police Siddhant Jain told The Indian Express that “we have written to the Union Ministry of External Affairs seeking urgent intervention for their safe return and have also submitted a formal request through the Bharatpol portal”.
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