They threatened to remove Arfath's kidney: Parents of Hyd boy who died in Ohio

Hyderabad: A Hyderabad-based student, Mohammed Abdul Arfath, 25, who was reportedly kidnapped by the drug mafia in Cleveland, Ohio, in the US in March, was found dead on Monday. Arfath, a resident of Ambedkarnagar, Nacharam, had gone to the US for his master’s degree in IT from Cleveland University in May 2023. He went missing on March 8

“I received a call from Cleveland police at 2.40 am stating that they found Arfath’s body on the bed of Lake Erie,” said Arfath’s cousin Mohammed Abdul, who stays in Virginia, a hour drive from Cleveland.

Abdul said that the police informed him that the body was decomposed and they would perform autopsy and toxicology tests. He said police had refused to disclose further details as they were investigating the case.

He said Arfath was fine when he spoke to him on February 25. “He had no financial issues but complained that his roommates in Cleveland were involved in illegal activities,” Abdul said.

“On March 8, Arfath’s father Mohammed Salim called me and said that Arfath’s mobile was switched off. Later, he informed me about a call from an unknown person who threatened to remove Arfath’s kidney and demanded a ransom of $1,200,” Abdul said.

“We lodged a missing complaint with Cleveland police. On March 13, a jogger called the Euclid police’s missing person unit (MPU) and informed them that he found a bag containing a laptop and ID cards,” Abdul said.

Cleveland police who were investigating the complaint of Arfath missing got information from the Euclid police on March 24 about the bag. Euclid police called up the jogger again for identification of the bag. By then, they had come to know that the bag belonged to Arfath and alerted the Cleveland police, Abdul added.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) spokesman Mohammed Amjad Ullah Khan said he spoke to Arfath’s father and brother and consoled them over the death.

Arfath’s parents are not physically fit to attend his son’s last rites. “So far, the body has not been handed over to the victim’s relatives and we are not sure whether Arfath was murdered,” Amjad Ullah Khan said.

The MBT spokesperson had highlighted the case of Arfath going missing, posting copies of the student’s passport and the letter that his family wrote to external affairs minister Dr S. Jaishankar.

The Indian Consulate-General in New York in a post on social media confirmed Arfath's death and assured its help to Arfath’s family members.

“Anguished to learn that Mohammed Abdul Arfath, for whom search operation was underway, was found dead in Cleveland, Ohio. Our deepest condolences to Mohammed Arfath’s family," the Consulate General of India in New York said in a post, and added that all possible assistance was being extended to the bereaved family to transport his mortal remains to India.