3 min readHyderabadApr 12, 2024 11:08 AM IST
First published on: Apr 11, 2024 at 07:34 PM IST
Mohammed Saleem, the father of 25-year-old Mohammed Abdul Arfath, who was found dead in Cleveland, Ohio earlier this week, has told The Indian Express that after spending Eid waiting for his body to arrive from the United States, they also have to figure out how to repay the Rs 43 lakh education loan the family had taken.
“The mental torture is that we do not know why this happened to him. We do not know what happened. There is no information. We have no clue… (we are) spending time in total darkness. We spent many harrowing weeks since his disappearance on March 7, and desperately hoped he would be found alive. But all we are getting back is his body,” Saleem told The Indian Express.
Arfath had gone to the US in May 2023 to pursue Masters in Information Technology from Cleveland University. The family, residing in Hyderabad’s Malkajgiri, lost contact with him on March 7, when they discovered his phone was switched off.
On March 17, Saleem received a mysterious phone call from the US, with an unidentified person claiming that Arfath had been kidnapped, and demanding a ransom of $1,200 to release him. The caller threatened to sell Arfath’s kidneys if the amount was not paid immediately.
“We have been told by central government officials that his body was retrieved from Lake Erie near Cleveland earlier this week,” said a family member.
Saleem said Arfath was a soft-spoken and energetic young man, who would stay out of trouble. “He was a good student in school. He did his B.Tech in Computer Science from TKR College of Engineering and Technology at LB Nagar,” Saleem said.
Like many students who dream of pursuing a Masters in engineering course in the US, Arfath worked for an IT company as a software developer for nearly two years. “His dream was to eventually settle in the US. He was delighted when the Rs 43 lakh education loan he had applied for was sanctioned. Everything fell into place when he got admission at Cleveland University,” Saleem said.
When Arfath left for the US in May 2023, his father also gave him Rs 10 lakh worth of foreign currency. “He did not have to worry about anything financially. We have no clue if he got into trouble with his colleagues or friends he made there, but he never mentioned anything to us. He was a very clean person, no bad habits or vices. So we were surprised to find that he had been abducted and the ransom call could be from a drug-related gang. We are only relying on news reports to learn what transpired but there is so little information,” Saleem said.
Mohammed Abdul Arfath had gone to the US in May 2023 to pursue Masters in Information Technology from Cleveland University. (Twitter/ @IndiainNewYork) 
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