Unable to return home due to false case, anguished NRI commits suicide in Saudi

Jeddah: In a tragic incident, a frightened destitute NRI from Telangana who could not return home since he failed to complete the required legal formalities ended his life in Saudi Arabia. Minutes before committing suicide, he made a video call to his wife to bid adieu. Shivaratri Srinivas (37) of Korutla mandal in Jagtial district […]

Jeddah: In a tragic incident, a frightened destitute NRI from Telangana who could not return home since he failed to complete the required legal formalities ended his life in Saudi Arabia. Minutes before committing suicide, he made a video call to his wife to bid adieu.

Shivaratri Srinivas (37) of Korutla mandal in Jagtial district was working as a driver with a family in the Saudi capital Riyadh for the last two years. The primary task of most house drivers in Saudi Arabia is transportation of school going children from home to school and back.

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Saudi Arabia like other countries across the globe, was reeling under the impact of pandemic, and schools were closed. Srinivas was doing multiple jobs as instructed by his employer, said family sources. He fell sick and underwent surgery for ulcer, but was forced to climb date palm trees by his employer without allowing him to rest after the surgery, his family alleged.

Srinivas fled from his employer under compulsion but the latter framed false charges against him. Srinivas reached Dammam, 410 km from Riyadh, where he did menial jobs to sustain himself. The case filed against him by his former employer prevented him from travelling home. It was not easy either to prove his innocence legally in an alien land where language is the main barrier.

A disappointed Srinivas made a video call to his wife Laxmi in his village and informed the family that he was ending his life by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in a room where he was staying on Monday evening. The shocked wife immediately informed some relatives in Saudi who rushed to the room and found him dead. Shoukat Nass, a noted Indian community volunteer, is coordinating with officials concerned to repatriate the body.