New Delhi: The bodies of three Indian workers, including two brothers, were recovered on Sunday after they were reported missing for nearly a week in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The victims’ relatives and friends claim to have been informed that the men were murdered.
The incident came to light after friends of the three Indian nationals, all from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, tagged the Indian authorities on a social media platform. However, the case is still murky as local police have reportedly not disclosed all the details.
Shafaqat Ahmed’s residence permit. Credit: Special arrangement
According to different versions, Shafaqat Ahmed, a 40-year-old driver of cargo vehicles, had gone to a locality in Riyadh, Ar Rawdah, to meet either the owner or a senior official in the company on January 5.
It is, however, clear that Shafaqat reached the venue on Saturday and did not return home. “His mobile phone was switched off from 5 pm onwards on Sunday (January 6),” a family friend told The Wire from Saudi Arabia.
With no information about Shafaqat, two days later, his younger brother Shamim Ahmed took along his roommate Fayyaz to inquire about his whereabouts.
“On Tuesday (January 8), Shamim called his eldest brother to say that he was outside the building and that he could see Shafaqat’s vehicle parked nearby,” he said. Within a few hours, Shamim’s phone was also switched off.
With his two brothers’ missing, the eldest brother, Shaukat, along with his friends, went in search of them. They went to the police station in the locality, but they didn’t file a report and neither were they cooperative, said another family friend.
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“We went to the Indian embassy for help and they issued a letter addressed to the police,” he stated.
The letter, dated January 10 and written on the letterhead of the Indian embassy in Riyadh, said that Shafaqat had gone to the company and did not contact the family for three days.
The letter from the Indian embassy to the Saudi police asking for cooperation to find the missing workers. Credit: Special arrangement
Armed with the letter, the worried friends and family member went back to the police and a formal complaint was registered. There was, however, no happy ending.
“Last night, we were told informally by embassy officials that the police had contacted them and said that the three are dead and were murdered,” he said.
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All three men were married, with the families residing in India. Shafaqat had three children, while Shamim became a father about three months ago.
The Wire contacted the Indian embassy in Riyadh, but no details were available at the time of writing this article. The family friends of the victims claimed that any action taken by the Saudi police was due to the pressure from the embassy.
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On Monday, Shafaqat and Shamim’s eldest brother, along with family friends, went to the local police station to get more information. However, they were told to return in a day or two as the paperwork for handing over the bodies has not yet been completed.
“But, we don’t know any more details. Who is the main accused, what is the state of the bodies. We have no idea,” said the family friend. The Wire could not verify reports that in five bodies were recovered in total by the police in this case. The other two were also allegedly Indian nationals.
According to a friend who has been helping the eldest brother, five people have been arrested but it has not been officially confirmed.
The total Indian population in Saudi Arabia is around 3.2 million – the largest expatriate community in the kingdom.