RIYADH, 25 January 2007 — The Riyadh Indian Friendship Association (RIFA) has asked India’s Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed to intervene in the case of an Indian expatriate, who died in a road accident in Riyadh, in order to enable the next of kin to get blood money.
In a memorandum, R. Muraleedharan, secretary of RIFA, pointed out that the parents of the deceased, Cleetus Augustin, who was killed in the accident on Sept. 8, 1991, are still awaiting compensation despite the passage of over 15 years.
The elderly couple Pethiru Augustin and his wife Jermali live in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Their son used to work for a company in Riyadh.
The report lodged with the Riyadh police indicated that 75 percent of the mistake was that of the Saudi citizen who was driving the vehicle when it hit Augustin. Under the Saudi law, the next of kin of the victim are eligible to receive the blood money.
Initially, the case was followed up by Augustin Lopez, a relative of the deceased. However, no progress was made until the power of attorney for conducting the case was transferred to the Indian Embassy in Riyadh in 2003.
The Indian Embassy had called for the production of relevant documents from Pethiru Augustin for initiating the trial proceedings in a Shariah court.
All the certificates and their Arabic translation, attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in New Delhi, were handed over to the Indian Embassy in Riyadh.
Muraleedharan said the couple last heard from the Indian Embassy here in November 2005, intimating them of the hearing of the case in December 2005. There has been no communication from the embassy since then. RIFA has requested the minister to look into the matter urgently and instruct the concerned embassy officials here to expedite the payment of blood money to the parents of Cleetus Augustin at the earliest.
