Ludhiana youth goes missing in Russia, kin write to Central Govt

Samarjit Singh (25), who had left the city for Russia in July, is reportedly missing as the family of the boy has lost contact with him for the past about 10 days. Charanjit Singh, father of Samarjit, has been writing to Central Government agencies to help trace his son.

Talking to The Tribune, Sukhdev Singh, the maternal cousin of Samarjit, said the latter had left Ludhiana in July to study medicine in Russia.

“He had gone with the support of valid documents to Russia and everything was going well till recently. However, his family was not able to contact the youth for the past about 10 days. His father Charanjit is running a small grocery shop in the Daba area and he told us that he was not able to talk to him. A few days ago, a video went viral on social media in which Samarjit was seen wearing army uniform, urging the Indian Government to save Indian youths, who were forcibly asked to join the Russian army during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. We don’t know about the reality of the video clip and how he landed himself in trouble. The entire family has lost contact with Samarjit and we have been writing to the authorities in Delhi to intervene in the matter,” he said.

Charanjit told The Tribune that the video of his son showed him dressed in an army uniform and there were other boys too, who were saying that they were being ill-treated and the Indian Government should do the needful to evacuate youths trapped in Russia.

Sukhdev, who works with a local firm, said the youth’s family did not know anything about Samarjit being in the army or being part of the war-zone as he had gone there to study only.

“We don’t know if he landed himself in trouble or was forcibly asked to join the Russian army. We can only approach Indian Government agencies to help find the youth,” he said.