DUBAI The suicide of an Indian father of three has left the Al Khail Gate community in shock.
The body of Y.K., 45, was found hanging from the railing of a staircase in Phase 2’s Building 1-22.
“We would like to be left alone for now,” said Ashfaq, a relative of the deceased.
The community’s peace was shattered on Friday morning when police and emergency workers arrived at the right entrance of the building following a call from the security guard.
When XPRESS visited the building on Sunday we found the door to the stairs near the guard’s desk taped with red-and-white stripes. The handles and staircase railings showed traces of black fingerprint powder used by forensic investigators.
They were the only tell-tale signs that just days earlier a man had committed suicide in the building, which has over 100 flats on eight floors. Nothing seemed amiss outside as residents came and went.
A security guard sat at the table opposite one of the two main entrances near the staircase where the Indian executive had taken the extreme step. The staircase is located just 30 feet from Y.K.’s first floor apartment.
A security guard said the business executive was found by a colleague on duty between 6.30am and 6.40am on Friday, while he was doing his regular rounds.
“The man was hanging from a sling,” the guard said, adding that his colleague immediately informed the control room and an ambulance arrived shortly.
A family friend said: “They didn’t seem to have any kind of problems… they never bothered anyone to ask for help or anything like that. It’s such a tragic end, my thoughts reach out to those left behind, especially the wife and their children,” he said.
“They never disturbed anyone. They kept to themselves,” said a neighbour. “This has been a peaceful, quiet neighbourhood,” said another Asian man who goes for early-morning walks around the neighbourhood. “But the news of suicide is just shocking.”
An Indian tenant on the seventh floor said he learnt about the news in the evening. “I was shocked when I heard about the incident.”
A woman who picked up her daughter from a school bus said: “Ever since we came to know of this, we’ve been disturbed because this is such a quiet and peaceful area.”
She couldn’t help noticing that none of Y.K.’s three children, aged between three and 11, alighted from the school bus.
