BAREILLY: A 22-year-old man from Mawasi village in Rampur was killed after being shot while serving in Russian army during the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with his family alleging that he had gone abroad for work but later landed in military service under coercive circumstances. The body of Mohd Shaved reached Rampur on Saturday evening, relatives said.Shaved’s brother, Shahvez Ali, said the family was waiting for the completion of formalities before the body was handed over to them and added that they still did not know when or how Shaved was recruited into Russian army. “After completion of the necessary formalities, the body was handed over to us,” he told TOI.“The burial has been completed and the situation in the village is normal. We are keeping a watch, but there is no tension at present,” SP Rampur Somendra Meena said.Shaved had gone to Russia around nine months ago in search of employment and had initially told his family that he would be working in steel furniture. His relatives said things appeared normal at first, but the situation later changed and he ended up joining Russian army, leaving the family with no clear account of how that happened.According to Shahvez, Shaved was shot while on duty on Thursday and died on the spot. The family also alleged that he may have been forced into joining the army, and pointed to an audio clip that surfaced on social media in which he purportedly said that his life had been “ruined” and that he was living under extremely difficult conditions. In the clip, he also suggested that he had gone abroad for a different kind of work and had not expected to be drawn into military service.

Mohd Abid, a villager, said Shaved had left home to support his family and was its main breadwinner. “He was a hardworking man and had gone abroad only to support his family,” Abid told TOI, adding that Shaved’s younger brother, Naved, was mentally unwell, while his father, Dulhe Hasan, earned a living by selling milk and had hoped for a better future after his son went abroad.