In a tragic incident, three foreign nationals, out of whom one has been identified as a resident of Karwar in Karnataka, were abducted and killed in Kabul on Thursday.
The bodies of the three men, who worked for French catering company Sodexo, were found in a car parked in the Mussahi district in the southern part of Kabul province.
“An Indian, a Malaysian and a Macedonian citizen were abducted and killed. We have found their bodies,” Hashmat Stanekzai, spokesman for Kabul’s police chief, told Reuters.
The Indian national has been identified as Patson Rodrigues (39), a resident of Karwar in Uttara Kannada. He is survived by his wife Frilla Rodrigues (33), who resides in Karwar with their daughter Presli (5) who is currently studying in UKG. The family expressed shock upon hearing the news of the incident.
Patson left Karwar around 10 years ago after completing a hotel management course. He was working as a chef for Sodexo in Kabul and was the main earner of the family. Sodexo is a food services and facilities management company that serves many sectors, including offices, hospitals, schools, prisons and military bases.
Patson had visited home in May and returned to Kabul on June 22. He spoke to his family on Thursday before leaving for work. Local media reports claimed that armed men forced the trio out of their vehicle at around 8.30 am and abducted them at the industrial park area of the 9th Police District in Kabul. Their driver reached the Sodexo office and informed the staff about the abduction, reports claimed.
A search operation was launched and the bodies of the three victims were found a few hours later.
“They were shot dead and their bodies were found inside a car,” Reuters quoted Nusrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for the interior ministry, as saying.
The incident comes nearly three months just seven engineers of the Indian RPG group company working in Baghlan, a province in the northern part of Afghanistan, were abducted by the Taliban reportedly mistaking them for government employees.