After 97 days of silence, fear, and a family's desperate wait, two brothers from Pithoragarh are finally home — rescued from what their family describes as forced labour in Russia, thanks to a sustained intervention by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. The Chief Minister's Office confirmed the safe return of Anand Singh Karki and Bhupendra Singh Karki on Tuesday, 11 August 2026.

The two brothers had left India on 5 May 2026 and arrived in Moscow on 6 May, lured by the promise of overseas employment arranged through a travel agency based in Sitarganj, Uttarakhand. According to the family, the agency charged them approximately ₹8 lakh for the placement. What awaited them in Russia bore no resemblance to what was promised.

Forced Labour, Drone Strikes Nearby, and a Family's Worst Fear

Once in Russia, the brothers were not placed in the jobs they had been recruited for. Instead, the family alleges, they were made to perform other work against their will — and were not paid for it. They were reportedly not allowed to move freely, and were threatened when they refused to comply. Contact with their family became increasingly sporadic, deepening anxiety back home in Pithoragarh.

The situation turned alarming when, during one of their last conversations, the brothers told their family that drone or missile strikes had occurred near the premises where they were being held. That detail — a war zone closing in on two young men from the Uttarakhand hills — galvanised the family to escalate the matter urgently to state authorities.

CM Dhami's Directive and the Embassy Channel That Worked

The moment the case reached Chief Minister Dhami, he directed officials to treat it with the urgency it demanded. State government officers were instructed to establish continuous coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Russia. That coordination — sustained over weeks — eventually secured the brothers' safe passage home.

After their return, CM Dhami personally called the brothers to check on their well-being and spoke with their family to understand the full sequence of events. 'Uttarakhand ka koi bhi nagarik duniya ke kisi bhi hisse mein sankat mein ho, rajya sarkar uski sahayata ke liye harsambhav prayas karegi' — ['No citizen of Uttarakhand, wherever in the world they may be in distress, will be left without the state government's every possible effort'], he said.

Kashi Singh Airi, a senior leader of the Uttarakhand Democratic Party (UKD), and social worker Ramdev Verma also maintained regular contact with the family throughout the ordeal and helped coordinate with government officials. The family expressed gratitude to CM Dhami, the Ministry of External Affairs, the Indian Embassy in Moscow, and all officials and individuals involved in securing the brothers' return.

A Familiar Trap — and a Growing Alarm

The Karki brothers' story is not isolated. Hill states like Uttarakhand have seen a steady stream of young men targeted by fraudulent recruitment networks promising high-paying jobs in Russia and other CIS countries. The pattern — upfront fees, false job profiles, restricted movement, non-payment — mirrors cases that have triggered state-level interventions across India. Uttarakhand's coordination with the MEA in this case echoes the multi-agency frameworks established during Operation Ganga in 2022, when Indian nationals were evacuated from Ukraine as the Russia-Ukraine conflict erupted.

With the brothers now safe, attention turns to the Sitarganj travel agency at the centre of the alleged fraud. A criminal investigation into the agency — and broader state-level scrutiny of overseas job placement operators — now appears likely.