Confirming the incident, Sudan’s Ambassador to India, Mohammed Abdalla Ali Eltom, said that both countries are coordinating efforts to secure Behera’s safe return.
Amid the ongoing civil war in Sudan, which has claimed more than 150,000 lives, an Indian national has been abducted by the country’s rebel paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The incident has brought the distant African conflict closer to home for one Indian family anxiously waiting for news of their loved one.
The abducted Indian has been identified as Adarsh Behera, a 36-year-old from Jagatsinghpur district in Odisha. He was reportedly kidnapped from El-Fasher, one of the major conflict zones in the Darfur region, and later taken to Nyala, an RSF-controlled area about 1,000 kilometers from Khartoum, Sudan’s capital.
Behera had been working in Sudan since 2022 with Sukarati Plastic Factory. His family in Odisha said that they were in regular contact until recently, but communication stopped when fighting intensified.
In a video shared on social media, Behera is seen surrounded by two armed RSF soldiers. One of them asks him in English, “Do you know Shah Rukh Khan?” while another prompts him to say, “Dagalo good,” referring to Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), the RSF commander. The video has since gone viral, raising alarm over his safety.
Behera’s wife, Susmita Behera, expressed her shock and fear after learning about her husband’s abduction. Speaking to NDTV, she said, “Earlier, he told me conditions were worsening, but we never imagined something like this could happen.”
The couple has two young sons, aged eight and three. Susmita said that she has reached out to both the Odisha government and India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for help.
In another video sent by his family to NDTV, Adarsh is seen sitting on the floor with folded hands, pleading for assistance. “I am here in El-Fasher, where the situation is very bad. I have been living here for two years with great difficulty. My family and children are very worried. I request the state government to help me,” he said.
Confirming the incident, Sudan’s Ambassador to India, Mohammed Abdalla Ali Eltom, said that both countries are coordinating efforts to secure Behera’s safe return.
“We have been in close contact with India’s Ministry of External Affairs ever since reports emerged about the captured Indian national,” the ambassador said. He also acknowledged the volatile situation on the ground, calling it “very unpredictable.”
He added, “This militia is notorious for the atrocities that it can commit, but we hope that they will make sure that he’s safe and sound. We, as a government, are ready to play any role in ensuring his safe return to India, and we’ll cooperate with the Indian authorities. We’ll offer everything that we can to ensure his safe return to India.”
Eltom further said, “India and Sudan have long-standing and deeply rooted relations. India has always been an important partner to Sudan, in times of peace and in times of war. During this ongoing crisis, India has extended humanitarian assistance to Sudan and continues to do so.”
Despite large-scale evacuations in 2023 during the height of the civil war, around 100 Indian nationals are still living and working in Sudan, according to the Embassy of India. Most of them are employed in private businesses or humanitarian roles in cities like Khartoum and Port Sudan.
As the crisis deepens, the Indian government continues to monitor the situation closely, hoping for Adarsh Behera’s safe release and the protection of other Indians still in the conflict zone.
