Raja Ravi Varma's kin abducted on Senegal trip to sell his works

CHENNAI: A suspected terror group in Senegal is learnt to have kidnapped Shreekumar Varma, a descendant of the royal family of Travancore -among whom is Raja Ravi Varma -and later set him free. While the external affairs ministry confirmed his abduction and said it was “looking into this serious matter“, the police said they had contacted the authorities in Dakar who said they had freed Varma on Thursday and confirmed that he was safe.

Varma went missing after embarking on a trip to Senegal to close a business deal with an unknown person for the sale of some Raja Ravi Varma works in his family's collection, sources said.

Varma, who was carrying some paintings of his famed ancestor, arrived in Dakar on Wednesday and went missing. Given, however, that he could have auctioned the paintings without travelling to a country where the authorities in recent days have detained at least 900 people in anti-terror operations, the sources said it was possible he had something else on his agenda. Varma had not told friends about the visit to Dakar.

Chennai police registered a case after Varma's son Karthik said he had received a call from a number that started with +444. The stranger spoke to him in Tamil and claimed that his father was in their custody in Senegal. Karthik told investigators his father had left with his uncle Goda. A ticket booking agent, Suresh, assisted them in booking the flight ticket. A probe revealed the caller used Voice over Internet Protocol to contact Karthik.