Family members of man stranded in Iran hold protests

The Times of India

VADODARA: With a stalemate continuing on the return of the man from Vadodara stranded in Iran since December, his family members and well-wishers held demonstrations at Gandhi Nagargruh here on Wednesday. They held placards seeking help of chief minister Narendra Modi who is contesting the parliamentary polls from the city.

Sanket Pandya from the city and his colleague Mohammed Hussain Khan from Delhi were a part of a team of a Goa-based company that had gone to Zanjan in Iran on November 23 to commission a power plant there. On December 17, some persons form the Zanjan-based company allegedly took away their passports saying that they needed to complete some formalities.

A memorandum submitted to the district collectorate here by the family members stated that there were technical issues with the generators and the Iranian company that had ordered the equipment. The Iranian company had demanded that another set of experts be sent for commissioning the project as the existing team was unable to do so. But the stalemate over this and other issues continued. Pandya and Khan were not allowed to leave Iran in wake of the situation.tnn

While others returned Pandya and Khan were kept at a guest house in Zanjan from where they contacted the Indian Embassy in Tehran and were provided accommodation in a hotel by the Indian embassy, but were unable leave the country as they were not given a visa.