The government on Saturday confirmed that Father Tom Uzhunnallil, a priest hailing from Kerala who was working in Yemen, has been abducted by a terror group in the war-torn region.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted,
Fr Tom Uzhunnallil - an Indian national from Kerala was abducted by a terror group in Yemen. We r making all efforts to secure his release.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 26, 2016
This comes days after a social media post by a religious group claimed that Fr. Tom had been kidnapped by ISIS-linked gunmen and the latter had plans to torture and crucify him on Good Friday.
A Facebook post last week by the Franciscan Sisters of Siessen, based in South Africa, claimed, "Was informed that the Salesian priest, Fr.Tom who was kidnapped by ISIS from the Missionaries of Charity Home in Yemen is being tortured and is going to be crucified on GoodFriday.”
The post which was reportedly shared more than 100,000 times has now been deleted.
However, Father Mathew Valarkot, spokesman for the Salesians' Bangalore province, which is Fr Tom’s own province and which is entrusted with the mission in Yemen, told The News Minute on Friday that while they did not have any information about Fr Tom, they "do not subscribe" to the claims made in the Facebook post as they did not know the source of the information and whether it is authentic or not.