When a case of alleged kidnapping of a daughter by her father reached Nepal’s immigration office…

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NL Today

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Kathmandu: The Department of Immigration on Tuesday witnessed an unusual scene of parents trying to pull their daughter toward them in what looked like a tug of war fashion, attracting the attention of onlookers.

One Karan Goyal, a bearer of the US passport, had reached the office to secure a visit visa for his eight-year-old daughter. 

Around the same time, Kanika Goyal, the Indian citizen who is the mother of the child and former wife of Karan Goyal, reached the office to claim that the child was her daughter and to prevent her from going along with Karan Goyal.

Both Karan and Kanika tried to pull the daughter toward them.

As the incident went bizarre, the immigration office sat down with both the parents and talked about the matter. “The department called representatives of the Indian and American embassies in Nepal. They [representatives] talked to both the parents, and the daughter is currently with the father,” said Manohar Thapa, the immigration officer at the department.    

Kanika Goyal is learnt to have filed an FIR at Delhi Police accusing Karan and his mother of abducting her daughter. She [Kanika] claims that her daughter was abducted and then brought to Nepal subsequently.

According to India Today, Goyal has filed an FIR with Delhi Police, accusing her ex-husband and her mother-in-law of kidnapping her daughter. “According to the Goyal, they [ex-husband and his mother] conspired together to take the child to Nepal,” it reported.

“Goyal and her husband have been separated for a while now. However, according to the court order, Goyal had brought her eight-year-old daughter to meet her father and grandmother from April 13 to April 18. She had dropped the child in a five-star hotel in Delhi Aerocity while she stayed in contact with her. On March 15, she could not reach her daughter after 9 PM,” India Today reported.

“When Goyal went to the hotel to check on them the next day (March 16), her daughter, as well as her ex-husband and his mother, were nowhere to be found. After contacting the police and going through CCTV camera footage, it was seen that all three of them had left the hotel the previous night around 10:45 pm in a taxi and did not return. Soon after, it was found out that they were in Nepal. Delhi Police has informed the Nepal embassy as well as the US embassy of the case while the investigation is underway.”

In the meantime, the Department of Immigration in Nepal has not issued a visa to the eight-year-old daughter. “The respective embassies have already been informed about the matter, and the issue is currently being investigated by the embassies. The visa will be issued only after all the necessary documents are presented before the department,” said Thapa.