Dubai inmate serving life in prison dies in his cell

Dubai: An inmate sentenced to life in prison for premeditated murder in 1993 died of heart attack in his jail cell on Friday.

The 44-year-old Sri Lankan, identified as Sharad Adeela, had been in jail since 1995. He was found dead on Friday afternoon in his cell at ward number 2.

Sharad had been serving a life sentence since 1995 after he was convicted, along with other five defendants, for the premeditated killing of an Indian security guard of a refreshment company, and for stealing Dh71,000.

According to court documents, four Pakistani men, a Sri Lankan and an Emirati robbed a warehouse in Dubai and killed the security guard.

The Pakistani men identified as Ahmad Abdulrahim, Omar Nawas, and Mohammad Hussain were given a life sentence each. Sharad was also given life sentence.

The third Pakistani involved in the crime identified as Ataaullah Khair Mohammad was executed in 1998 by squad firing. Charges against the Emirati suspect were dropped.

According to court documents the defendants were arrested in 1995 while Sharad fled to Sri Lanka after committing his crime. He was arrested after undercover police posing as an employer sent him a visit visa. He was arrested upon arrival at the airport.