THE wife of a civil engineer from Nagpur has been running from pillar to post to secure the release of her husband, who is lodged in a jail in Mali, a West African country, since the last one year following his arrest in a financial dispute case involving his Uttar Pradesh-based employer firm. Talking to PTI Videos, Priyanka Gulhane, the wife of jailed engineer Nitin Gulhane, alleged that although a court in Mali granted bail to her husband in August last year, he remains incarcerated there due to non-payment of Rs 3.25 crore bail bond by his company despite its assurances. The woman, who earlier took up the issue with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), has now written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, seeking his urgent intervention for the release of her husband. She said he suffers from various ailments, including diabetes and high blood pressure, and added that his continued incarceration poses a serious threat to his life. Gulhane said her husband worked as Deputy General Manager at Noida-based Aar Ess Exim Pvt Ltd (AEEPL), and was deputed by the company to Mali to oversee the implementation and supervision of a rural electrification project covering 22 villages.

 

The concerned project was awarded through an international competitive tender. AEEPL is a major stakeholder company formed in association with Nav Durga Electro Construction Private Limited and Sun City Enterprises. As per the contract, mobilisation advance funds were deposited in Axis Bank Ltd in Noida, and the local currency (CFA Francs) was deposited in Ecobank, Mali, she said in the letter to Fadnavis. The required bank guarantees were submitted through an authorised bank under the Offshore Financial Authority of the Union of Comoros. However, the client organisation Energie du Mali (EDM) raised objections regarding the validity of the bank guarantees and filed a written complaint, Gulhane added. “The entire responsibility of arranging and ensuring the validity of the bank guarantees lay with AEEPL’s top management.

 

My husband did not have any involvement in this matter, nor did he have any authority over it. Financial processes were not part of his work responsibility. His duty was limited strictly to technical implementation of the project and completion of work within the stipulated time and budget,” she said. However, on February 25 last year, after a meeting organised by Energie du Mali in Bamako, her husband was taken into custody due to the disputed bank guarantees, and since then he has been in jail, according to her. “On August 15, 2025, a court in Mali granted him bail upon a surety of 200,000,000 CFAF (approximately Rs 3.25 crore in Indian currency). However, even after more than five months, the company or its Managing Director has not taken any concrete steps to deposit the bail amount,” Gulhane alleged. The entire case arose due to high-level decisions and technical errors made by the company. The court in Mali did not hold her husband responsible and granted bail to him. However, despite repeated assurances, the company has failed to deposit the bail amount, she said. “As a result, my husband, who is suffering from serious heart-related ailments, has been unjustly imprisoned in a foreign country for the past 11 months. He suffers from a heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

 

He has also undergone angioplasty. Due to inadequate medical facilities in jail, his health has deteriorated significantly, and his continued detention poses a serious threat to his life,” she said. Gulhane said the family raised the matter with the MEA. “On September 11 last year, a meeting was held in the presence of Sanjeev Kumar, OSD (MEA), along with the Managing Director of AEEPL. But despite the Ministry’s intervention, the company continues to delay the matter, and no positive response has been received so far,” she said. She has now requested CM Fadnavis to consider the ‘urgent humanitarian situation’ to issue immediate directions to the company and its MD to complete the bail formalities and take necessary steps for her husband’s quick release. “Ensure diplomatic and legal assistance through the appropriate Government authorities to protect my husband’s life, freedom, and dignity,” she said in the letter to the CM. Talking to PTI Videos, Gulhane said she cannot arrange money to secure her husband’s release, and also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help her in the matter. The family is likely to meet the MEA officials in Delhi soon.