Saudi Arabia: Indian worker released

Governor of Saudi Arabia's Asir province, Prince Faisal bin Khaled, ordered the release of Mohammed Zaheer, hailing from the Indian state of Bihar, on humanitarian grounds after taking into consideration other aspects of the case, the Arab News reported on Saturday.

Zaheer was operating a road-roller near the Yemeni border in the province four years ago when a Bangladeshi co-worker came under the roller and was killed.

He has been in prison since then.

The report, however, did not mention how long Zaheer's jail sentence was.

Zaheer argued in court that he did not see anyone coming in front of the road-roller while he was operating it.

The court also ordered him to pay 300,000 Saudi riyals (about $80,000) as blood money to the victim's family.

Several Saudis living in the area were moved by Zaheer's ordeal, and came forward to help him out with the blood money.

Saudi citizens in the surrounding villages collected 150,000 Saudi riyals but the legal representative of the deceased worker refused to accept any amount less than the court stipulated amount, the report said.

A forensic report later, however, indicated the presence of poisonous substance in the victim's body.

Based on the forensic report, it was concluded that the substance could have led to the death or made him fall unconscious on the path of the road-roller.

Ashraf Kutichal, an Indian social worker in Abha, the capital of the province, said that based on the forensic report, jail official Mohammed Hasan Amri drew the attention of the governor and requested him to consider the case.

"I want to return home at the earliest," Zaheer was quoted as saying.

He refused to reveal any further details about the case.