The arrested Indian national has been identified as Rajiv Mohan Kulshrestha. The Indian Embassy in Beijing has sought consular access to meet him.
While few details were available on the intriguing story, the Chinese Foreign Ministry in a brief statement today said the Indian was involved in “criminal activities”.
The tourists, including nine Britons, detained at Ordos airport in Inner Mongolia on July 10 were linked to the?South Africa-based charity, Gift of the Givers, founded by Indian-origin Imtiaz Sooliman.
Indian Embassy officials said, “We are in touch with Chinese officials in Beijing and provincial government of Inner Mongolia, where he was taken into custody and sought consular access to meet the person.”
While the Indian Embassy declined to reveal the Indian national’s identity, the South African media published the list of names of the detained including that of Kulshrestha.
The reports said China plans to deport eleven of the 20 members, but the fate of Kulshrestha was not known. The group was on 47-day tour of China.
“This was supposed to be a tour to explore ancient China; a planned 47-day journey for ten South Africans, nine Britons and one Indian national. A tour that went horribly wrong on Friday, 10 July, when they were arrested at Erdos Airport, Inner Mongolia, at 9.40 am local time,” the charity group Gift of the Givers said.
According to the group, the?tour operator realised something was wrong on Sunday, 48 hours after the arrests, and discovered that the holidaymakers had been detained after travelling to the airport.
The Chinese suggested that some members were linked to a terror group, a banned organisation, and watching propaganda videos in their hotel room, the charity said.
According to reports, the detention of the 20 foreigners is the first such case in China, which is battling growing militancy in Xinjiang, bordering Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Afghanistan.
The Gift of the Givers charity, in a statement today said, “Following an intervention by both the South African and British governments in China yesterday there has been some movement regarding 11 of the 20 detained individuals.