Ex-navy official Tiwary still in Qatari jail over separate conviction: Sources

A former Indian Navy officer, Purnendu Tiwary, remains in Qatari custody despite his death sentence being commuted in 2023 along with seven colleagues. While the others have returned to India, Tiwary faces a separate conviction for alleged financial irregularities linked to his former employer.

New Delhi: A former Indian Navy official, whose death sentence was commuted by a Qatari court in 2023 along with seven others, remains in custody due to a separate conviction, official sources said on Saturday, while dismissing certain claims made by his family.

The Indian government has already taken up the case of Purnendu Tiwary for pardon, they said, adding that the Indian embassy in Qatar has been in touch with his wife and officials from the mission have met him in jail on several occasions. Tiwary was among eight former Navy personnel arrested by Qatari authorities on charges of espionage in 2022.

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While all other personnel returned to India following a Qatari court’s decision to commute the sentences, Tiwary remains in Qatar. It is learnt that Tiwary was accused of financial irregularities related to his former employer, a subsidiary of Oman-based Dahra Engineering and Security Services.

Tiwary’s sister, Meetu Bhargava, said in a social media post that the government failed to secure his return and even claimed that the Qatari High Court “rejected these allegations” and declared him “innocent” in a judgment on March 12.

“This assertion by Meetu Bhargava is factually incorrect. Tiwary has been sentenced by Qatar’s Court of Cassation alongwith the Omani owner and another Qatari officer,” said a source.

“This judgment came in February 2026. The judgment of March 12 is a separate case that was filed by the Omani owner of the company against Tiwary,” it said.

The sources said the government has always extended all possible help to Tiwary and continues to do so.

“The embassy is in touch with his wife and our officers have met him in jail on several occasions. We have also taken up the case for pardon,” the source cited above said.

The sources said the case in which Tiwary has been sentenced is a separate case from the one in which he and others were released following an intervention by the government of India.

At a media briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Friday said: “The eighth naval veteran, he has a particular case against him. He was detained in that (case). It has nothing to do with the earlier case.”

“The court there has given a ruling under which he has been given a sentence. We are in touch with him, with his family and his lawyers. So, that is where this particular issue is,” he said.

In a social media post, Bhargava on Saturday said, “Commander Tiwary is a decorated naval officer. Subjecting such an officer to jail, humiliation and suffering despite no fault of his own is a matter of grave national concern.”