Bhubaneswar, Dec 17: Odia man Adarsh Behera who was abducted by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia in Sudan last month, has safely returned to India and arrived in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday morning.

Behera, a resident of Kotakana village in Jagatsinghpur district, had been held hostage for several weeks in Sudan before being released.

Behera was greeted by his family members at the Bhubaneswar airport after traveling from Abu Dhabi to Hyderabad late on Tuesday and then catching a flight to Bhubaneswar. His abduction had sparked widespread concern, with Jagatsinghpur MP Bibhu Prasad Tarai raising the issue in Lok Sabha and urging the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to intervene for his safe release.

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had also sought the intervention of the MEA in November, emphasizing the urgency of Adarsh’s rescue. Behera had been working as a machine operator in a plastic factory in Sudan since 2022, when he was abducted at gunpoint from Al-Fashir, approximately 1,000 km from Khartoum. The RSF rebels were reportedly holding him in Nyala.

A video of Behera, pleading for help with folded hands while held by the rebels, had surfaced during his captivity, further intensifying efforts to secure his release.