WSN Service
NEW DELHE: In a daring and meticulously planned action, militants abducted Romanian’s Charge D’ Affaires in India Liviu Radu on the morning of Oct.9 while he was on way to his office here.
The 53 –yr.-old diplomat remained untraced until last reports from India even as his wife Caterina threatened to go on a hunger Strike in front of Indian Prime Ministers house if immediate steps were not taken to accept the Sikh militant’s demands to win freedom for her husband.
The responsibility for the abduction was owned by Bhai Gurjant Singh Budsinghwala, chief of Khalistan Liberation Force, a component of the alliance of four militant groups working under the direction of Panthic committee associated with Dr. Sohan Singh and others. In a statement in Punjabi and handwritten by Bhai Budhsinghwala, he demanded the release of Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda, Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha and Bhai Nirmal Singh arrested by India in connection with the assassination of former Indian chief of army staff, General A.S, Vaidya.
To reinforce the claim, the militant group issued a photograph of the detained diplomat flanked by two armed masked men with the picture containing the words Khalistan Liberation Force”. In a statement circulated to the media, the militant up demanded the release of the three militants. “Otherwise, he would be done away with”, the statement added.
The kidnappers claimed that the condition of Radu was deteriorating fast. “If he collapsed in our custody, the response would be of the Indian govt”, the statement added.
The Indian Home Minister stated that there was no proposal to set free the three men as demanded by the militants.
President Venkataraman assured his Romanian counterpart that sincere efforts were being made find out the whereabouts of the kidnapped envoy. He described the Kidnapping as an act of terrorism which, he said, could not survive without international support.
Akali leader Simranjit Singh Mann in a statement at Chandigarh demanded the release of the three militants so that the Romanian diplomat should get his freedom.
Indian police organized searches of thousands of houses and cars in and around Delhi but to no avail.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 18, 1991
