Student, found dead in US, had ₹43 lakh loan

MOHAMMED Saleem, the father of 25-year-old Indian engineering student Mohammed Abdul Arfath, who was found dead in Ohio earlier this week, said his family was hopeful that their son would be found alive, but all they got was his body. 

He also expressed concern about the repayment of the ₹43 lakh education loan the family had taken to fund Arfath's studies in the United States.

“It was his dream to settle in the US. He was happy when the ₹43 lakh education loan was sanctioned. He then got admission at Cleveland University," Saleem told Indian Express. 

“I gave him foreign currency worth ₹10 lakh when he (Arfath) left for the US in May 2023 to pursue a Masters in Information Technology. He did not have to be worried about finances. He was a very clean person. He didn't have any bad habit. We were surprised when we got to know that he had been kidnapped and received a ransom call from a drug-related gang," his father said. 

Arfath's father said they had no clue how he got into trouble in the US, adding that the family was only getting information from news reports on the incident. 

Saleem, on March 17, received a phone call from an unidentified person in the US who claimed that Arfath had been abducted and demanded a ransom of $1,200 to release him. The kidnappers threatened Arfath's father by saying that they would sell his son's kidneys if he did not pay the amount immediately. 

However, earlier this week, the central government informed them that the police had retrieved his body from Lake Erie near Cleveland.

Mohammed Abdul Arfath hailed from Nacharam, Hyderabad. He had a BTech in Computer Science from TKR College of Engineering and Technology at LB Nagar, Hyderabad. On March 7, Arfath had his last conversation with his father, and since then, his mobile phone has been switched off. His roommates then lodged a missing persons complaint with Cleveland Police.