Back home, ex-Navy man relives 531 days of uncertainty in Qatar

{HOME AT LAST} FREED ON SUNDAY

- Rahul Singh

Commander Sanjeev Gupta (retd), one of the eight former Indian Navy personnel sentenced to death in Qatar on undeclared charges but freed from 17-month captivity on February 11 after painstaking negotiations between the two countries at the highest levels, often contemplated what-ifs in his prison cell in Doha in the early days.

What if he never sets foot on Indian soil again? What if he never gets to see his wife or hug his two young daughters? What if he was doomed to die in the detention facility?

"Those 17-plus months were horrendous. The first six months were even worse. At times, I got this feeling that I might die there," the 56-year-old said in an interview at his 20th floor Noida apartment, three days after all the men were released, and seven of them have already returned home, in a dramatic turn of events.

Last December, Qatar's Court of Appeal commuted the death sentences awarded to the menGupta, Captains Navtej Gill and Saurabh Vasisht, Commanders Purnendu Tiwari, Amit Nagpal, BK Verma and Sugunakar Pakala, and sailor Ragesh - and sentenced them to prison for varying durations ranging from three years to 25 years. Tiwari is expected to return soon.

Gupta's wife Rekha was visiting her parents in Agra when her phone rang in the early hours of February 12. The voice on the other end of the phone line spoke in a gentle tone.

"Congratulations, Rekha ji. Sanjeev ji is back in India."

It was India's ambassador to Qatar, Vipul (he uses one name), breaking the news to the retired officer's wife.

The brief call ended a 531-day ordeal. "There was no time for small talk. It was around 3 am and I was on my way to Noida," Rekha said.