New Delhi: More than a month after she was kidnapped, Indian aid worker Judith D’Souza has been rescued. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced the news on twitter and said, “I am happy to inform you that Judith D’souza has been rescued,” on her twitter account early on Saturday morning.
According to sources D’ Souza, who is “safely” with Indian embassy officials in Kabul will return to India “very soon”.

Judith D’Souza had been working with the Aga Khan Foundation in Kabul for some years and was due to return to India in a week when she was abducted on the night of June 9. According to the police’s account, Ms. D’Souza had been visiting a friend and was in her car with a driver and security guard, when they were overtaken by gunmen and forced into another car at gunpoint.

However, they let off the two men as they were Afghan, asking Ms. D Souza if she was a “foreigner”, said police. The manner of her abduction made the police suspicious, however, and they kept both the driver and guard in custody. While officials wouldn’t reveal any details during the investigation, sources confirmed that interrogating the two men had given them significant leads that indicated the motive for her kidnapping was ransom, and that she hadn’t, as feared by many, been targeted by the Taliban. Ms D’Souza was believed to be held by a gang in the Shomali Plains, close to the village of the two men in custody.