Former Navy Commander Purnendu Tiwari is jailed in Qatar (PHOTO: X)
The Ministry of External Affairs says the Indian Embassy in Doha is doing everything it can to help naval veteran Purnendu Tiwary. He was arrested back in December in a case that’s been dragging on in Qatar.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal explained that Tiwary’s arrest came after a court ruling. The case is still in court, so details are limited.
“He was arrested last month in a matter that’s been ongoing in Qatar for some time,” Jaiswal said. “From what we know, there are several others arrested too, but they’re not Indian, they’re from other countries.”
Jaiswal added, “Our embassy keeps in touch with Commander Tiwary and his family, offering all the consular support we can. Since the matter is still before the court, I can’t say much more right now.”
Commander Purnendu Tiwary, a retired Indian Navy officer from Gwalior, is no stranger to trouble in Qatar. Nearly two years ago, Qatar’s Emir pardoned him along with seven other ex-Navy officers. But now, Tiwary is back in prison in Doha, caught up in a new legal problem that’s raising fresh worries about his health and India’s efforts to bring him home.
Tiwary, now 65, was one of several veterans arrested in August 2022 on espionage charges while working for a private company in Qatar.
In February 2024, when families were flocking to Indian airports to retrieve seven Indian Navy officers released from the death row in Qatar, one family remained silent.
Commander Purnendu Tiwari was a former Indian Navy officer and had served the country well, but he was never given a chance to board the home flight.
Almost two years later, he is still being held in jail in Doha with his family claiming that additional financial charges had been sewn together so that he could stay in jail even after a royal pardon.
Their families thought that the ordeal was over when Qatar pardoned eight Indian Navy veterans after the personal intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Yet his octogenarian Indian mother is still waiting to see her son back home.
His health is worsening in a jail in Doha, and his family is now directly requesting PM Modi to take another intervention given that his continued imprisonment is an issue of national honour.
His sister, Meetu Bhargava, accuses Dahra Global CEO of taking advantage of his position to direct all the financial blame on her brother, and that the police later compelled him to sign an admission of his alleged role when he was in solitary confinement.
In praise of the direct action of PM Modi in the case, she remarked that in 2022, eight Indian Navy veterans had been arrested on false charges of spying.
The Amir of Qatar was able to forgive them all after being persuaded by the Prime Minister of Qatar, Modi hai to mumkin hai [it’s possible, as long as Modi is around].
In August 2022, Indian investigators detained seven former members of the Indian Navy, including Commander Tiwari, in Doha. In 2023, the authorities of Qatar sentenced them to death, but no formal charges, in detail, were publicised.
The Government of India resorted to diplomacy in getting them out. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself brought up the issue with the Qatar emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani.
The Emir pardoned these or commuted the sentences after this intervention. Eight of the veterans were freed to go back to India.
Panic and horror unfolded in a busy Jaipur neighbourhood late Friday night when a speeding…
India’s refiners, led by Reliance, may resume Venezuelan oil imports under a US-controlled framework, balancing…
President Trump announced a one-year 10% cap on credit card interest rates starting January 20,…
