Abu Dhabi: A close friend of an Indian expatriate found dead along with his wife here last week said he had not known of his friend’s job loss or of any other turmoil in the couple’s life.
“I spoke to [Janardhanan Pattiery] last week, but nothing seemed amiss then. In fact, we are all very shocked and saddened. I had known [Pattiery] since childhood, and this is a big loss,” the friend, who declined to be named, told Gulf News today.
Pattiery, 57, and his wife, Minija, 52, were found dead in their apartment on Thursday night. They hailed from Kozhikode in the Indian state of Kerala.
Krishna Kumar V.P., president of the Kerala Social Centre, earlier told Gulf News that the couple lived alone in the capital.
“Their phones had been switched off and the son, [who is employed in Bengaluru], could not contact them. Based on the couple’s son’s request, police broke open the door and found them dead,” he had said.
Pattiery had been working with the accounts department of a travel and tourism company and had reportedly been terminated earlier this month. The friend said Pattiery had not informed anyone about his termination, and that Minija, an accounts assistant with another company, had reportedly gone to work on Sunday.
Unassuming and genial couple
According to a person living in the same neighbourhood, the couple lived in a one-bedroom apartment in the capital’s busy Madinat Zayed area.
“They had been living here for nearly 15 years, and were very unassuming and genial. I last saw Pattiery going back home carrying an appliance with him. Next thing we knew, they had been found dead,” the man said.
Distraught son
The friend said that he had been in touch with the couple’s son, who is extremely distraught at the moment. “Like all of us, he does not know what went wrong. He is now waiting to receive his parents’ mortal remains at the earliest,” he explained.
Krishna Kumar said he had not been familiar with the couple himself. “We had got a call from their friends and went to the building to check on them,” he said.
Abu Dhabi Police has not yet issued any statement on the case.
