Father Alexis Prem Kumar, the head of a Jesuit organization, who returned to India nearly nine months after his abduction in Afghanistan, gave the credit of his return to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that it was because of him that he was here.
"This is because our Prime Minister Narendra Modi (that) I am here. He saved me. This evening he talked to me when I was at the Kabul Airport. Possibly, he took a lot of interest in rescuing me," Mr Kumar told reporters after arriving at Delhi airport on Sunday evening.
Earlier, the announcement of the release of the 47-year-old private aid worker from Tamil Nadu was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi through tweets.
"Have spoken to Father Alexis Prem Kumar. Informed happy family of Father Alexis Prem Kumar of his safe return after 8 months in captivity," he added.
"The matter of his release has been pursued by our leadership, including at the highest levels by the Prime Minister," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said.
He expressed India's "deep gratitude to all those who worked tirelessly over the last 8 months to help in this humanitarian task of ensuring the safe release of one of our citizens".
He was its Afghanistan Director and had been in the country for over three years.
Before moving to Afghanistan, Kumar had worked for the JRS, serving Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu.
PM Modi Hails Defence Giant Lockheed Martin's Make In India, Make For World Drive PM Modi Meets Party Staffers At BJP Headquarters PM Modi Chairs Security Meet Amid Rising Terror Attacks In Jammu Windows Computers Lead To 'Blue Screen Of Death' Due To CrowdStrike Error In 1st Statement After Outage, CrowdStrike CEO Says... Massive Worldwide Microsoft Outage: Flights, Markets, Stock Exchange Down Law Will Take Its Course: Puja Khedkar Breaks Silence On Allegations "Atmanirbharta" Cannot Be At Cost Of Nation's Defence: Air Force Vice Chief CrowdStrike CEO Says "Deeply Sorry" For Tech Outage: Report Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.