MP man freed from Pak jail after three years to return home on Tuesday

Bhopal, Feb 20 A Bhil tribal family living in a remote village in Madhya Pradesh's Khandwa district had reasons to cheer on Monday as they received their elder son - Raju Laxman Pindare - at the Wagah border.

Raju (35), who was in jail in Pakistan since July 2019 after inadvertently entering the neighbouring country, was handed over to the Khandwa police a week after he was handed over to the Indian authority by Pakistan.

A team of Khandwa district police along with his two family members, who had left for Amritsar on Saturday, is likely bring back Raju to Bhopal via Delhi from where he would be taken to his village in Khandwa, where the villagers are ready to welcome.

The moment has come as early Holi for not only the Pindare family, but for the entire Bhil community.

"The return of my son has brought Holi early for all of us. We had lost all hopes of seeing him again. But god, the local administration, police and the media ensured his return from Pakistan jail after over three years," said Raju's father Laxman Pindare, who till a few days back was running from pillar to post to get his son back home.

During Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra's Madhya Pradesh leg, Laxman Pindare tried to meet Rahul Gandhi to seek his help, but he could not meet the former Congress President.

"We received information about his release from Pakistan jail from the Khandwa district administration four days back. Before leaving for Amritsar, I talked to Raju over the phone," Raju's younger brother Dilip Pindare told over phone.

In July 2019, Pakistan claimed to have arrested an Indian identified as Raju Laxman Pindare for 'spying' on a nuclear facility in Dera Ghazi Khan district in Pakistan Punjab.

Pakistan had also claimed that Raju was arrested while entering the DG Khan district from Balochistan. Raju was released after he completed his prison sentence on February 14.

Meanwhile, Raju's mother Basanta said that he was mentally unwell and she had got information about his arrest in Pakistan through some local officials in 2019, six months after he had gone missing.

Raju used to wander here and there but it is still not known how he managed to enter Pakistan, Basanta said.

She also said the family was poor and there was no chance of her son being a spy as alleged by Pakistan authorities.