JEDDAH: Indian diplomats in Jeddah are trying to unravel what led to the death of an Indian national in Jazan on Thursday.
“One of the officers at the consulate is in touch with the appropriate authorities in Jazan to ascertain the exact circumstances in which 24-year-old Mohammed Tanzibuddin died,” diplomatic sources told Arab News on Saturday.
According to a report in India’s Telegraph newspaper, Tanzibuddin, who was from Jamshedpur in the north Indian state of Jharkhand, was the victim of a racist attack by his co-workers.
“He was knifed by his expat co-workers three weeks ago in Sabya in Jazan where he was employed by a telecom company,” said the report. “He succumbed to his injuries at Sabya General Hospital on Thursday.”
Tanzibuddin’s relatives in Jamshedpur have sought the help of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to repatriate his body to India.
They also demanded deterrent punishment for his killers prescribed under Saudi law as well as adequate compensation for the bereaved family.
Tanzibuddin’s widowed mother, Rashda Khatoon, told The Telegraph that her son’s body was in the morgue of Sabya General Hospital.
“We do not know how long it will take to bring my son’s body home,” she said.
According to diplomatic sources, in cases of murder repatriation of a body takes longer than usual.
Rashda’s daughter, Shama, said that her brother had been employed by the telecom company — whose name she couldn’t recall — since December 2013.
“Tanzibuddin was at a company camp in Sabya 20 days ago when three or four co-workers attacked him with knives and inflicted serious injuries in his abdomen. The company had him admitted to hospital,” she said. Sabya is about 40 km from Jazan.
Shama claimed that her brother had been “apprehensive of some unseen danger” since Eid this year but had not said why he might have been attacked.
“My brother was very frightened of his co-workers and had expressed his desire to return home,” she said. “I am not sure what transpired between him and his colleagues on that terrible day.”
Tanzibuddin, the fourth of Shama’s eight brothers, was apparently so terrified of his co-workers that, even after sustaining the wounds, he would not agree to anyone from his acquaintances visiting him in the hospital.
“It is unbelievable that our Tanzibuddin is no more. He was a decent young man and an active social worker. We shall sorely miss him,” Arshad Ali, a friend and neighbor, was quoted a s saying by the Indian newspaper.
