Dubai: K.B. Amruthanand, an Indian safety supervisor, got married in 2014 and came to the UAE two months later.
However, it would be three years before he could next visit his wife and parents as he got stuck in a blood money case following an accidental death of a worker at his worksite in Sharjah in 2015.
A Bangladeshi worker had slipped and fallen through an opening in the rooftop during the construction of a beach resort and spa in Sharjah in June 2015.
Amruthanand, 30, said a Sharjah court later found him guilty of not ensuring the worker’s safety on-site and of making him work without an insurance as it had expired a few days before the accident.
The court ordered him to pay Dh200,000 in blood money to the worker’s family along with an additional fine of Dh3,000.
His company, which allegedly had not informed him of the verdict till it started laying off workers due to huge losses, finally paid him Dh100,000. That became possible after the Indian Consulate took up Amruthanand’s case with the owner of the company.
After reading the Gulf News report on March 14 that Amruthanand had to still raise Dh100,000 to settle the diya, many health and safety professionals banded together to support their fellow professional.
They pooled in Dh70,000 for Amruthanand and another Dh30,000 was donated by Indian businessman Firoz Merchant, the MD and chairman of Pure Gold jewellery group.
While the Indian mission assisted in the legal procedures, the safety professionals sponsored his ticket back home and also presented gifts for his family.
On May 5, Amruthanand had a happy reunion with his wife and parents back in his home state of Kerala.
But his happiness did not last long. Though he was happy to be home, Amruthanand said he has not been able to find a proper job back home.
He now wishes to come back to the UAE to work.
He said he and his entire family are thankful to the Indian Consulate, Gulf News and its kindhearted readers who supported him, as well as to his fellow professionals and Firoz Merchant.
“They have saved two families through their generous acts — mine and the worker’s. I am sure God will bless all of them for this.”
