In a great relief, a Qatar court has accepted Bharat’s appeal against the
death penalty to eight Indian employees, who were handed the sentence last
month in an alleged case of espionage. Sources stated the Qatari court will set
a hearing date after examining the appeal.
The eight men were arrested in August 2022 by Qatar’s intelligence agency
for spying. But the Qatari authorities haven’t made the charges against them
public yet. Their bail petitions were rejected multiple times and the verdict
against them was pronounced last month by the Court of First Instance in Qatar,
stated sources.
Granted consular access to them, Indian authorities have been working to
secure their release.
The arrested Indian employees are Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Commander
Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Captain
Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht and
Sailor Ragesh Gopakumar.
All of the former Navy officers have a distinguished service record of up
to 20 years in the Indian Navy and have held significant positions including
that of instructors in the force.
Meetu Bhargava, the sister of one of the former officers detained, had
sought help from the Central Government to bring her brother back. In a post on
X on June 8, she had appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene.
NE Watch Desk
