Jeddah: A foreign worker’s existence in any Gulf country is based on the visa (iqama), everything from work to house even death is identified by the visa. Seeking help from a friend, who holds a valid visa, to remit the money or rent a house for some Indians whose Iqamas were expired is common, however, this can pose a serious identity issue.
39 years Pattanreddy Hanif Khan never imagined during his life that seeking help from his friend to rent a house would make his soul peaceless when he died.
Hanif Khan, a native of Tamballapalli Mandal in the Annamayya district of AP life was fine in Riyadh and tried in multiple jobs he was believing in the jackpot how he become addicted to the Thailand lottery, playing the Thailand lottery is a negative habit for section of Asian expatriates living in the region, yet it seems that he didn’t find any luck in lottery.
Doing odd jobs mostly as driver, his Iqama was expired, and he was declared absconder by his employer thus he become illegal and not existing legally in Saudi Arabia. Without any proper job and unluck in lottery he frustrated over the life and committed suicide in his room in Naseem district in Riyadh on October 22 last year.
The neighbours felt a bad odor emitting from the decomposed body and informed the house owner in turn who informed police and security forces, who opened the door and found the dead body.
The room where he lived and died is leased with another Indian name, Shakeeb, when police contacted Shakeeb sponsor it was found that Shakeeb is much alive and working. Following biometric identification, Haneef Khan identity surfaced, however, due to discrepancy in his passport number the ways to trace him remained closed.
The mobile device, found in the room, was screen locked and however the phone was opened later and noted Indian community worker Siddik Tuvoor made a series of calls to last dialed numbers then one person responded and identified himself as brother of Hanif Khan and living near Tirupati city in Andhra Pradesh. He also provided the passport copy and other details of his late brother to Siddik.
It is common for expatriates, who face visa issues, to seek others’ help for house renting. However, in such cases problems become compounded.