Abducted Indian Professors Meet Students in Islamic State Camp, Get Released

Hyderabad: Two of four Indian professors -- abducted by militants of the Islamic State in war-torn Libya last week -- are expected to return to India by Tuesday. What apparently secured their release was that their "captors" happened to be a group of their former students.

Vijay Kumar and Lakshmi Kant had been teaching at Libiya's University of Sirte. All four were abducted while travelling in a car near Sirte. They were on their way to India.

"But later, when some of the militants recognized the two professors, they released them immediately," said Muralikrishna, whose brother, Professor Gopikrishna, had not been as lucky.

Gopikrishna and Balram - who taught at Hun, around 300 km from Sirte -- are still in the custody of the IS. The militants have said unless they show documents proving they are university teachers, they will not be released, said Muralikrishna.

Muralikrishna, a friend of Laxmikant, said the professor has assured him that the militants had treated them well. A resident of Raichur in Karnataka, he will return home via Hyderabad on Tuesday, he said.

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Desperate to get help to secure the release of her husband, Sreedevi, wife of Prof Balaram met Union Labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya in Hyderabad on Sunday evening.

The minister, she said, assured her that no effort will be spared to bring her husband back.

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"I am also in contact with the Libyan embassy, their university professors and here some of my husband's friends,'' said Shreedevi, adding that she was hopeful that her husband will return soon.

Asked why the professors chose to continue in Libya despite government advisories asking them to leave, Kalyani, wife of Gopikrishna, says there were too many commitments that forced them to take the risk.