His body has been lying in the morgue of Dammam Central Hospital ever since. Srinivas, a native of Medak district, Andhra Pradesh, had come to Saudi Arabia as a laborer but later absconded from his employer.

His illegal status has complicated the process of repatriating his body to his impoverished family back home. R. Murlee Dharan, president of the Federation of Kerala Association in Saudi Arabia, told Arab News his organization is working on retrieving the body.

The Indian Embassy has also sent a community welfare representative to Dammam to resolve the issue. Previously, the body of a T. Nara Goud of Nizamabad, Andhra Pradesh, was sent home nine months after his death. The body of another Indian expatriate, T. Ramanna, was in bureaucratic limbo for 18 months before being sent home.