Wife runs pillar to post to free Indian held in Mali over firm dispute

Five months ago, Gulhane finally secured bail. However, he remains incarcerated, as per Priyanka, because the bail bond of around Rs 3 crore in Indian currency is yet to be paid by his employer despite assurances, including to Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) officials.

Priyanka says she has been knocking on all doors — from the office of Gulhane’s employer in Noida, to MEA offices in South Block and the Indian Mission in Mali. She has also approached Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, tapping into their common Nagpur links.

As project manager, Gulhane was overseeing the electrification of 22 villages in Djenne, on behalf of AEEPL. The dispute arose after its partner Energy du Mali filed a complaint over the validity of certain bank guarantees provided by AEEPL.

Talking to The Indian Express over the phone from Nagpur, where she lives with her parents, Priyanka says Gulhane started working with AEEPL in June 2022, and was posted to Mali in November that year, and that tendering for the said project was already done by then.

Gulhane was taken into custody along with AEEPL vice-president Rajesh Ramachandran in February 2025, following a meeting called by Energie du Mali, which cited the disputed guarantees. On August 15, Gulhane got bail on a bond of FCFA 200,000,000 (approximately Rs 3.25 crore), with no such relief for Ramachandran.

It was the responsibility of the AEEPL management to arrange the bank guarantees Energy du Mali was asking for, Priyanka says. “My husband was neither involved, nor had the decision-making authority in this matter. His role was strictly limited to execution of the project in line with the specifications, timelines and budgets.”

Priyanka talks of a happy two years or so she and Gulhane spent in Mali, along with their first child, when he initially got posted there. Around the same time as the tie-up between the Indian and Mali firms developed some stress, in mid-2024, Priyanka reached the final trimester of her second pregnancy. Wanting to deliver the child at home, she flew to Nagpur, and Gulhane followed to be by her side.

Priyanka says: “I have made repeated requests to the AEEPL management, but no effort has been made by the employer to facilitate this bail.”

She also worries about Gulhane’s health. “My husband is a heart patient, also suffering from diabetes and hypertension, with a history of angioplasty. His health has deteriorated severely in prison due to inadequate medical care. Continued detention poses a grave threat to his life.”

At home, making ends meet has been difficult. Priyanka claims AEEPL has been paying only half the salary due to Gulhane since his arrest, and that she has to often plead with the company to meet his medical expenses in Kenioroba Prison.

Priyanka adds: “Nitin lost his dad early on, and his mother did odd jobs to provide him an education. Only he, the eldest, managed to get a proper education… For the last 15 years that Nitin has been working, his family was dependent on him.”

The promise of better money on an assignment abroad, even in distant West Africa, was hence a lucrative offer.

In September, owing to Priyanka’s persistence, officials in the MEA’s Central and West Africa division had a meeting with AEEPL Managing Director Rajendra Mishra. However, she says, there has been no forward movement. “Since that meeting, Mr Mishra has been postponing the deadline given by the ministry and giving excuses for not arranging the bail amount… The authorities should extend diplomatic and legal support to my husband.”

While MEA officials did not respond to an email query, sources in the ministry said they were “in touch with the government in Mali and also with the company to do the needful”.

AEEPL MD Mishra said, “We are waiting for official communication in this regard and a certified copy of the orders. Once we get that, we will decide in consultation with our lawyers. We are keeping the Ministry apprised.”

As per their LinkedIn profile, AEEPL was founded three decades ago and is a “a multifaceted project engineering firm… with extensive experience in commandeering turn-key industrial projects from concept to commissioning… having worked in over 40 countries and industries.”

Queries by The Indian Express to Energy du Mali, a state-owned utility responsible for electricity generation, transmission, and distribution in Mali, went unanswered.