Hyderabad: A Telangana man who travelled to Russia for a gardening job has reportedly been recruited into the Russian Army and deployed to the Ukraine war zone, prompting his family to seek urgent govt intervention after losing contact with him for more than three months.Gonela Parsharamulu, a resident of Bollaram village in Vemulawada rural mandal, went to Russia in Jan after paying ₹2.5 lakh to a Karimnagar-based recruitment agent, according to his wife, Sirisha. She alleged that he was misled about the nature of the job and was instead forced into military service.
The family has appealed to both the Centre and the Telangana govt to trace Parsharamulu and facilitate his safe return to India.Sirisha said her husband remained in touch with the family for several months after reaching Russia. However, his regular phone stopped working on July 31, and the family has not been able to contact him since.Before communication was lost, Parsharamulu reportedly used another person’s phone to send photographs of himself wearing a military uniform. He also informed his family that he had been fraudulently recruited into the Russian Army and sent to the Russia-Ukraine war zone.According to Sirisha, those photographs were received around four months ago. The family later lost contact through that phone number as well and has received no information about his whereabouts or condition since then.Appeal for interventionFearing for his safety, Sirisha and her two children approached Union minister of state for home Bandi Sanjay seeking his intervention.She urged the Centre and the Telangana govt to take up the matter with the ministry of external affairs and Russian authorities to determine her husband’s whereabouts and secure his return.Sirisha said Parsharamulu had travelled abroad only to earn a livelihood for the family and alleged that the Karimnagar-based agent had deceived him with promises of a gardening job.
