Fate of abducted driver unknown

NEW DELHI: The Taliban in Afghanistan has claimed that it has killed the kidnapped Border Roads Organisation (BRO) driver, Ramankutty Maniappan, Reuters news agency said in a report from Kandahar on Tuesday night.

When contacted by Indian newspaper The Hindu, Indian Ambassador in Kabul, Rakesh Sood, said over the telephone that he had no confirmation of the claim made by Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf.

"We have seen the reports. The Afghan authorities are not in a position to provide confirmation of these reports," Mr. Sood said.

There had been no contact between the kidnappers and the embassy since the abduction, he added.

According to the Reuters report, Mr. Maniappan was shot dead on the orders of the Taliban council at 6 p.m. IST after a deadline passed for his company to pull out of Afghanistan.

"Since the Indian company did not listen or reply to our response, we killed the Indian engineer," Yousuf told the news agency by satellite phone from an undisclosed location.

Mr. Maniappan was abducted on Saturday from the Nimroz province of Afghanistan along with three Afghans. One of the Afghans returned to the BRO camp on Monday.

SOURCE: The Hindu

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