Kerala businessman living in Dubai’s Meadows jumps to death from Sharjah tower

Sharjah/Dubai: An Indian businessman hailing from Kerala and residing in Dubai jumped to his death from a Sharjah tower on Monday, Gulf News can reveal.

Sharjah Police confirmed to Gulf News that the businessman, Ajith Thayyil, had committed suicide.

Director of Space Solutions International Group, Thayyil was known in the community as a director of now-defunct Kerala Premier League (KPL-Dubai) T20 cricket tournament, and was a resident of the Meadows in Dubai.

He drove down to Sharjah in the early hours of Monday morning and jumped from a tower under the jurisdiction of Buhairah Police Station.

Police and hospital sources said passers-by informed the police, following which, he was rushed to Al Qassimi Hospital, where he was declared dead-on-arrival around 8am on Monday.

“His body has been shifted to the forensic mortuary and an investigation is on,” a police official said.

Thayyil is the second Keralite businessman to commit suicide in the UAE in the past two months. In April, Joy Arakkal, another industrialist from the south Indian state, had also ended his life by jumping from a building.

Thayyil’s death has come as a shock to several community members who knew him well.

“I cannot believe this. I had called Ajith when Joy died. He wondered why Joy did it and said he was wrong and shouldn’t have done it,” said one of Thayyil's friends who did not wish to be named.

When asked if Thayyil also faced any financial issues like Joy had reportedly faced, he said: “I had asked him about his business. He said there were some tensions, but everyone else was also facing similar situations in these difficult times. I don’t think he had big financial issues.”

He said Thayyil’s company, Space Max Contracting, a turnkey design-and-build contracting firm, was famous for making metal frames for supermarkets and warehouses of popular hypermarkets.

Thayyil is survived by his wife and two children. His son has finished his education in the United Kingdom, while his daughter is studying here, said advocate Hashik. T.K, who is assisting the family along with their relatives.

He said the family was not aware that Thayyil had left their villa in the early hours on Monday.

“Police called the company, who in turn asked his wife to rush to Buhairah Police Station. I accompanied one of their relatives after he was informed that something wrong had happened. It was only after we reached the hospital did we realise that he had died.”

Hashik said the similarity between the deaths of Arakkal and Thayyil was shocking, though the similarity didn't end there. While Arakkal was known for his palatial house in the Wayanad district of Kerala, dubbed as one of the biggest in the state, Thayyil had built one of the biggest houses at his hometown in Kannur district, Hashik added.

-- With inputs from Mazhar Farooqui, Features Editor, Special Reports