- Thursday, February 27, 2025
Khaleequr Rahaman, a politician from the southern Indian state of Telangana from where the woman hails, said police, social activists and local diaspora members in Chicago were looking for her.
By: Shubham Ghosh
A DAY after he posted about the ordeal of Syeda Lulu Minhaj Zaidi, a woman from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad who became a pauper after going to the US in 2021 for pursuing higher studies after her belongings got stolen, Khaleequr Rahaman, a leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), the ruling party of the southern Indian state of Telangana said that Zaidi left an hospital where she was admitted for treatment and efforts were underway to locate her.
In a tweet posted on Thursday (27) night India time, Rahaman said citing Joanna Dhanabalan, development worker, outreach based in Chicago, saying Zaidi was seen in Chicago’s Wilson Avenue after she left the hospital and was yet to be traced. He said the police along with Joanna’s team and the local Indian diaspora joined the search for the Indian woman and talks with the Indian consulate would take place in the afternoon US time.
Latest update as on July 27, 2023 7.45 pm IST. Source: Ms. @jojojd Joanna Dhanabalan, Development worker, Outreach based in Chicago.
Lulu has been seen in the Wilson Avenue, Chicago. She left the hospital she was admitted in and is yet to be found after that. Joanna, her team… https://t.co/BwYcKx0gFB
— Khaleequr Rahman (@Khaleeqrahman) July 27, 2023
Earlier, in another tweet, Rahaman said he got in touch with one Mukarram, a social worker in Chicago where the Indian student was found starving on the roads, who came to her aid along with his family. He said Zaidi’s mother wanted to travel to the US to help her daughter and sought her details to help her get a visa to the US with assistance from external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and the US embassy in New Delhi.
Update on Syeda Minhaj Zaidi:
I was able to get in touch with Mr.Mukarram, who is a social worker in Chicago. He and his family met her & she is right now admitted into a hospital. He told me that she is in major depression & mentally unstable condition due to the financial… https://t.co/fLoHM0rEAC pic.twitter.com/3LyfXCYxqi
— Khaleequr Rahman (@Khaleeqrahman) July 26, 2023
In another tweet, Rahaman said members of the local Hyderabadi community in the US were taking care of Zaidi.
She has been admitted into the hospital as informed to me by Mr.Mukarram, Social Worker in Chicago. Minhaj is under depression & being treated in a hospital. The Hyderabadi community is taking care of her. @DrSJaishankar @TimesNow https://t.co/wbMyQFgQqf
— Khaleequr Rahman (@Khaleeqrahman) July 26, 2023
He said Mukurram told him that Zaidi was suffering from major depression and was mentally unstable due to her financial hardships as she failed to get a job either. The BRS leader said Zaidi had to be brought out of depression before she could travel back to India.
On July 22, Zaidi’s mother Syeda Wahaj Fatima wrote to Jaishankar seeking help to bring her daughter back home.
In her letter, which was shared on Twitter by Rahaman, read, “My daughter Syeda Lulu Minhaj Zaidi, a resident of Maula Ali in Telangana, went to pursue her Masters at TRINE University in Detroit during August 2021 and was often in touch with us. But, for the past two months, she has not been in touch with me and recently we came to know through two Hyderabad youths that my daughter is in depression and someone stole her belongings, which left her to starvation. My daughter was spotted on the roads of Chicago in the USA.”
She also sought assistance from the Indian embassy in Washington DC and the Indian consulate in Chicago in the letter and said that her daughter could be traced with the help of Mohammed Minhaj Akhtar, a social activist.
