Restaurateur ignored calls to wind up business
Body was buried in his native village in Kerala
Abu Dhabi: The family of the deceased Abu Dhabi restaurateur had been asking him to wind up his business and return to India but he ignored their calls for the sake of his employees, his uncle told Gulf News yesterday.
The man's restaurant business had been going through a rough patch, unlike in the past, Kunchi Mohammad Rajan said over the phone from Kerala.
Rajan said his nephew, K.A. Abdul Gafour, 59, could have easily settled in India, where he had other businesses.
As Gulf News reported on Friday, Gafour, the owner of Mughal Restaurant in the Madinat Zayed area in the capital, was found dead on Wednesday evening in his flat, which was located above the restaurant.
Abu Dhabi Police said he committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in his bedroom. He left no suicide note or any other hint of the circumstances that made him decide to end his life.
Body repatriated
His body was repatriated to Kerala on Saturday evening and the burial took place in his village in Malappuram district yesterday morning.
Gafour had recently spent a huge amount to renovate his 30-year-old restaurant, Rajan said. However, his younger brother K.A. Bashir, who worked with him, said Gafour had not seen the new stringent rules affecting the restaurant industry as a hurdle. Bashir said minor problems affecting the business were never beyond Gafour's control.
Bashir and Rajan hinted that Gafour had been upset after someone borrowed money from him and did not return it on time.
