TIRUCHI: Mystery shrouds the death of a welder who worked in Dubai with the relatives of the deceased claiming a foul play and demanding a probe into the case.
Thirty-three-year-old R. Sudhakar, who resided at Vazhavandankottai on the city’s outskirts, had left for Dubai to work in a company as a welder in September. He was sent abroad through an agent in Thuvakudi here.
Family circles of Sudhakar said they were in touch with him till November 26 after which he could not be contacted. A call purportedly came from a colleague of Sudhakar to one of the latter’s relative on November 28 claiming that the welder had some psychological problems and that he would be sent back to his homeland.
As Sudhakar failed to return on the specified date, his near ones contacted the agent who claimed that the welder could not be spotted in Dubai. Following this, the relatives submitted a petition to the Collector here recently appealing to the district administration to take necessary steps to bring him back.
In the meantime, a call came again to one of Sudhakar’s relatives last week claiming that the welder was spotted in a liquor outlet in Dubai and that he had run away, said his family circles. However, a call that came on Tuesday informed the father-in-law of Sudhakar of the death of the welder apparently due to heart attack shocking the entire family.
Encased in a coffin, the body of Sudhakar arrived at Tiruchi airport by an Air India Express flight from Sharjah in the early hours on Wednesday.
His family members besieged the Airport Police station with the coffin for over four hours demanding an investigation into the mystery surrounding the welder’s death.
The suspicion arose as the date of death was mentioned in the death certificate issued in Dubai and from the Indian Embassy as November 29, while his colleague claimed of spotting Sudhakar last week, said one of the welder’s relatives.
Further, there was some injury marks on the left forehead fuelling further suspicion that Sudhakar could not have died of heart attack. The relatives wanted a repost mortem to be done in Tiruchi following this suspicion.
Police and revenue officials held talks with the family members of Sudhakar following which the body was sent for a post mortem to the Mahatma Gandhi Government Hospital in Tiruchi.
A complaint was preferred to the Thuvakudi police station by one of Sudhakar’s relatives claiming a foul play and demanding a probe. A case under section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has been registered.
