Indian worker's dead body from Saudi yet to arrive

Riyadh: A poor Indian family is waiting for several months to receive the body of their breadwinner, who had committed suicide in Saudi Arabia for not being able to return home due to poor financial and health condition, media reported Wednesday.

Partha Mutanna, who was working in the Eastern Province, tried his best to leave the country during the amnesty period for illegal expatriates given by Saudi authorities last year but his poor financial and health condition made it difficult for him to pursue the repatriation process properly, the Arab News reported.

Mutanna fractured his leg while at work and his iqama (employment permit) had expired a long time ago.

He had also visited the Indian Help Centre several times with the help of his roommates, but it was all in vain, his family said.

"Mutanna was sharing living quarters with other illegal workers who returned home during the amnesty period. He was left alone with no one to take care of him. After facing difficulties in managing his life, he became deeply depressed and finally committed suicide May 22 in his room," a source was quoted as saying.

The family followed up with his case from India and sent the necessary documents to the Indian embassy but they turned down the request for a postmortem and appealed to have Mutanna's body repatriated, the report said.

Raja Gangu, the wife of the deceased, is a poor woman who is struggling to feed her young kids.

"I have been waiting for several months to receive the body of my husband and have finally given up hope as I have received no support from the authorities in Saudi Arabia, including from the Indian embassy," she said.

There are certain standard procedures regarding the granting of exit visas to dead expatriates. The deceased has to be holding a valid iqama and be a legal resident at the time of death.

Otherwise, there are lengthy procedures in which the foreign missions have to play a vital role to complete the legal formalities, the report said.