Three Indian citizens have gone missing after travelling to Iran, the Indian Embassy in Tehran said on Wednesday. The Indian mission has urged the authorities in Iran to trace the missing Indian nationals and ensure their safety.

"Families of 3 Indians have informed the Embassy of India that their relatives are missing after having travelled to Iran. The Embassy has strongly taken up this matter with the Iranian authorities, and requested that the missing Indians should be urgently traced, and their safety should be ensured," the Indian Embassy announced in a post on X.

The Indian mission in Tehran is also keeping the families of those missing regularly updated about the efforts being made to trace them, it added.

Meanwhile, the mother of one of the young men, who all belong to Punjab, has alleged that they have been abducted there since May 1, and the kidnappers have demanded ransom to release them.

The three men are residents of Sangrur, Nawanshahr and Hoshiarpur districts of Punjab. They took a flight from Delhi and were supposed to reach Australia on a work permit. However, the agents took them to Iran under the pretext of a temporary stay there. Later, they were kidnapped.

The mother of Husnpreet, a resident of Sangrur, alleged that travel agents took money from them but sent them to Iran instead.

The woman has also alleged that the pictures and videos of the men have been shared with them, showing their hands tied by ropes with cut and bruise marks on their bodies.

The grieving families had been speaking with the men during the first few days after they were allegedly kidnapped, but they have not got a chance to speak to them again since May 11.

It is also learnt that the agent from Hoshiarpur, who sent the young men to Iran, is absconding. The family has also lodged a police complaint against him.

Meanwhile, the family members of Hoshiarpur's Amritpal, one of the missing men, have also met Punjab Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and Hoshiarpur MP Dr Rajkumar, requesting them to help bring their children back home safely.

Source: India Today