According to the FIR he lodged at the New Delhi Railway Police Station, Damree left Chennai after spending a few days there. He met a ``friendly'' Indian on board his train from Chennai to Delhi. ``The youth was friendly and talkative and we started chatting about a lot of things,'' Damree told the police.

When the two reached the New Delhi Railway Station, Damree met two more men who had come to receive the man he had befriended on the train. The last he remembers is having tea at the railway station with the three men.

The FIR states: ``I do not remember what followed. When I woke up, I found myself blindfolded inside a car. The men were taking mesomewhere. They removed the blindfold in a room, where they kept me for 25 days.'' Damree alleges that the men beat him at intervals and threatened him with a knife if he made any noise or tried to escape.

The unknown assailants allegedly robbed him of cash amounting to 1,500 US dollars and Rs 70,000. They also took his travellers' cheques, a wrist watch, gold chain, bracelet, two bags and a suitcase. According to the FIR, the assailants blindfolded Damree and dropped him in some corner of the city ``which I could not identify as this was my first visit to the Capital.'' From where, the Mauritian tourist headed straight for the Mauritian High Commission.

The High Commission sent him to the police station at the New Delhi Railway station where Damree lodged an FIR. A case has been registered under section 328 (drugging), 379 (theft), 342 (trespassing) and 506 (intimidation). With help from the High Commission, Damree managed to get an exit permit from the Foreigners' Regional Registration Office (FRRO) atITO.

``We verified with our Chennai branch and found Damree's testification true. But what we do not understand is why the assailants kept him captive for so many days,'' an FRRO source disclosed.