Mangaluru, August 09: Demanding the arrest of the accused who have allegedly assaulted Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) leader Puneeth Shetty, INTUC workers have decided to hold a protest in front of the deputy commissioner’s office here on August 16.

Condemning the attack on Puneeth Shetty in front of the party leaders, INTUC leader Deekshith Shetty said that such kinds of attitudes would definitely defame the party. Without tolerating the INTUC youth wing which has been encouraging the youths to come up in politics in the district, some Youth Congress goondas who were limited to just stage programmes, have assaulted Puneeth Shetty and the accused should be arrested immediately. Party leaders and workers should teach a lesson to such goondas, he demanded.

It was unfortunate that a labour leader was attacked. The party leaders should take disciplinary action against him and his followers. The police department should arrest them. Otherwise, they would stage a protest in front of the deputy commissioner’s office, he said in a press release.



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New Delhi: In a concerning development, several Indians who were illegally enlisted in the Russian Army and forcibly sent to the war zone on the Russia-Ukraine border are reportedly still missing.

According to a report published by The Hindu on Sunday, citing communication from the Ministry of External Affairs and statements from the families of two missing men, Mohammad Amin Sheikh, a 65-year-old resident of Kupwara in Tangdhar, Jammu and Kashmir, said that his 27-year-old son, Zahoor Sheikh, last contacted the family on December 31, 2023.

Amin Sheikh mentioned that his son said that he was going for training and would not be available for the next three months on phone. “But when we started getting news about the deaths of Indians in Russia in January, we got worried and called on his number. We could not reach him. We are yet to hear from him,” Sheikh, a retired Inspector from the Public Health Department in Jammu and Kashmir, was quoted as saying by the publication.

Last week, Mohammad Amin Sheikh and his two other sons travelled to New Delhi to seek answers from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Russian Embassy after the Indian Embassy in Moscow failed to give them information about Zahoor Sheikh.

“We submitted a petition at the Russian Embassy,” 31-year-old Aijaz Amin, Zahoor Sheikh’s elder brother, told The Hindu. “They said they are looking into the matter. The MEA officials said that at least 15 Indians are still missing and though the Russian government is cooperative, their commanders on the ground are not responsive,” he added.

Zahoor had travelled to Russia after he came across a YouTube video promising the job of a security helper in Russia. Instead, he was reportedly deceived into joining the Russian Army.

Similarly, 30-year-old Mandeep, from Jalandhar in Punjab, has been missing since March. His brother, Jagdeep Kumar, also arrived in Delhi, looking for answers from the government about his sibling's whereabouts.

“We last spoke on March 3. He initially went to Armenia and was supposed to go to Italy from there in search of work. Instead, he was tricked by an agent to go to Russia and was forced to join the Russian Army. He was sent to the war zone after a few days of training,” Kumar told The Hindu.

Kumar said he met officials from the External Affairs Ministry in the capital city, who told him that at least 25 Indians were reported missing in Russia.