Happy homecoming for freed profs

Hyderabad: The two Telugu teachers who were abducted by the militants of Islamic State (IS) in Libya last year were finally reunited with their families in Hyderabad on Saturday.

T Gopalkrishna (35) and C Balram Kishan (52) reached Hyderabad from New Delhi during the wee hours of Saturday. Both of them thanked the Central government, the State government and the media for standing by them during their hard times. Gopalkrishna belongs to Srikakulam and Balram Kishen is from Karimnagar.

They had gone to teach at the University of Sirte in Libya but were abducted by the IS militants near Tripoli, on July 29, 2015, along with two other teachers Lakshmikanth and Vijay Kumar of Karnataka.

The teachers were returning to India and were heading to Tripoli airport when they were abducted. Gopikrishna and Balram Kishan were held captive by the militants, while Lakshmikanth and Vijay Kumar were released in a week’s time.

Gopikrishna was teaching Computer Sciences and Balram was an English teacher. Speaking to the media at his house in Nacharam, Gopikrishna said, “I am very happy to be reunited with my family after over a year. Thanks to the efforts of Libyan Army and the Government of India, I could safely come back.”

He said, “I am really excited to return home after long captivity. I have already given all the information to the Ministry of External Affairs as to what happened during my 414-day captivity. Both of us were kept in one room and they never answered us as to why we were abducted,” said Gopikrishna.

He, however, refused to elaborate on the conditions in Libya when he was held captive. He said they were under instructions from the Union Minister for External Affairs not to speak anything at this point of time.

All that Balram said was that it was very hard situation. He said that he would be spending quality time with his family and take up a job later.