A famer from Kerala, Biju Kurian, who was reported missing from an official delegation to Israel 10 days ago, has been traced and he will be returning to the country on Monday, state agriculture minister P Prasad said on Sunday.
The minister said Kurian’s brother told him that he will reach Kozhikode airport by a Gulf Air flight on Monday.
“He reportedly told his brother that he extended his tour to visit some of the holy places in the country. We will hear him in detail before taking any action,” he said.
Earlier last week, the minister had said that the incident had invited enough embarrassment to the state government.
The government approached the external Affairs Ministry and the Indian embassy in Israel to cancel his visa and passport. Officials familiar with the matter said the government’s action might have foiled his plan to illegally settle in the country and forced him to return.
Kurian went to Israel with a 27-member delegation headed by Agriculture secretary B Ashok on February 13 and he went missing from a hotel in Israel’s Herzliya city on February 17. Later, he telephoned his wife saying he was safe and not to search for him.
Last week, in another case, six members– five women and some of them above 60 years of age– of a pilgrimage team from the state to the holy land slipped out after reaching Israel, prompting the group’s head Father George Joshua to file a complaint to state police chief Anil Kant. An investigation is on in the matter.