Eight Indian Navy Veterans Jailed in Qatar on Spying Charges Freed, Seven Return Home

Qatari authorities on Monday released the eight Indian Navy veterans who were sentenced to death there. Earlier, due to diplomatic intervention by New Delhi, the capital punishment was commuted to an extended prison term. The external affairs ministry earlier assured family members of these veterans that it would mobilise all diplomatic channels and arrange legal assistance to enable their return.

Out of the eight former Indian Navy officers, seven have returned to India, according to an official statement. “The Government of India welcomes the release of eight Indian nationals working for the Dahra Global company who were detained in Qatar. Seven out of the eight of them have returned to India. We appreciate the decision by the Amir of the State of Qatar to enable the release and home-coming of these nationals,” the external affairs ministry said in the statement.

“We are very happy that we are back in India, safely. Definitely, we would like to thank PM Modi, as this was only possible because of his personal intervention,” one of the released veterans said while speaking to news agency ANI.

These former Navy officials who were imprisoned in Qatar since 2022 were accused of allegedly spying on a submarine programme. Qatar has not yet made the charges against the former Navy veterans public.

“It wouldn’t have been possible for us to stand here without the intervention of PM Modi. And it also happened due to the continuous efforts of the Government of India,” another veteran said, thanking the Prime Minister for his efforts.

“We waited almost for 18 months to be back in India. We are extremely grateful to the PM. It wouldn’t have been possible without his personal intervention and his equation with Qatar. We are grateful to the Government of India from the bottom of our hearts for every effort that has been made and this day won’t have been possible without those efforts,” another veteran told the news agency.

Who Were the Eight Veterans Who Were Arrested

Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta and Sailor Ragesh Gopakumar were the eight Indian Navy veterans who were arrested in August 2022. The Qatari government alleged that these veterans, who were employed by Dahra Global Technologies, a defence services provider company based in Qatar, were spying on a submarine programme on behalf of Israel.

Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services is a private firm that provides training to the country’s armed forces. The Indians were involved with advising the Qatari government on the acquisition of submarines. The firm provided support solutions to the aerospace, security, defence, information technology, and communications sectors as well.

Dahra Global closed operations last year and its employees, mostly Indians, returned home. Khamis al-Ajmi, a retired squadron leader of the Royal Oman Air Force, ran the company. He was also arrested but was released in November 2022.

Commander Purnendu Tiwari (Retd) who served as managing director of the company, was honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman in 2019 for his contributions to enhancing the bilateral relationship between India and Qatar. He is also known to have commanded several Indian Navy warships.