Beijing: Two Indian nationals, who were held hostage for about 20 days in the Chinese trade hub of Yiwu by local traders were on Wednesday released and shifted to a hotel in Shanghai by Indian officials.
"We reached safely to Shanghai and were put up in a hotel by the Indian Consulate," Deepak Raheja, who was held captive along with Shyamsunder Agrawal, told over phone.
He said when they were being taken out there was no resistance by local traders who had surrounded their hotel at Yiwu where they were put up during the past two days.
The duo was brought out by the Indian Consulate officials with the help of Chinese police escort.
They are expected to be in Shanghai for the next few days until they recuperate from scars of torture and ill-treatment suffered at the hands of the local traders.
A top Indian official complimented the Chinese Foreign Ministry officials for prevailing on the local Yiwu administration to let the two go out of the town for their safety even though they may have to face the court case regarding the payments due to the Chinese merchants from their company.
However, the duo cannot leave China immediately as their travel documents have been impounded by the court in Yiwu in connection with the case.
Chinese traders were unwilling to let them go asserting that their company owed millions of Yuan for products bought from them and they would be permitted to leave only after payments were made.
Meanwhile, China on Wednesday assured India that it has initiated criminal proceedings against five locals suspected for the torture of the two Indians and promised to address the issue besides giving due attention to the safety of Indian nationals on its soil.
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