Overview
- Police say the three family members stopped responding after September 22 and were formally reported missing by relatives later that week.
- Relatives and an agent say the trio travelled from Gujarat through Jaipur and Abu Dhabi to Addis Ababa using Ethiopian e-visas arranged by intermediaries.
- Families say they paid agents roughly Rs 60–75 lakh per person to arrange the route and were later contacted by a caller identifying himself as "Khan" who demanded Rs 1 crore.
- The local agent told families he paid about Rs 60 lakh to the kidnappers but that the captors still demanded Rs 1 crore; police have opened an inquiry into the agent network and what happened in Ethiopia.
- Relatives have asked the government for help while the case highlights how blocked legal channels push some migrants to costly informal routes that increase the risk of exploitation.