Five Sircilla men freed from Dubai jail on mercy, return home, thanks to efforts of KTR

HYDERABAD: Tumultuous scenes were witnessed at Hyderabad airport when five men — serving a life imprisonment in Dubai,

returned home upon granting of mercy by UAE Government, thanks to unrelenting efforts by KTR — reunited with their families after close to two decades.

KTR launched his efforts to get them back to India since 2011, as the law there lets them free if they were granted pardon by the family of the victim.

KTR reached out to the victim’s family way back in 2011 in his capacity as an MLA.

But amendment to the laws in Dubai made things difficult and the men were not released.

But KTR continued his efforts relentlessly and used his good offices with Ministry of External Affairs continued the dialogue and negotiation with Dubai Government.

Finally, all the five men were set free and as KTR arranged for tickets for them to fly back, they reunited with their families at the airport in the early hours of February 21.

The five persons belonging to Rajanna Sircilla district — Shivarathri Mallesh, Shivarathri Ravi, Gollem Nampally, Dundugula Laxman and Shivarathri Hanmanthu — working in Dubai were booked long ago (over 15 years ago) in the case of a death of a Nepali national and were incarcerated in Dubai prison.

Since a grant of pardon by the victims family can get relief for those accused serving jail term, KTR personally visited Nepal to meet the family of the deceased and gave them a cheque for Rs 15 lakh as ‘victim’s compensation’ in accordance with Sharia Law ‘Diyyah’ (also referred to as ‘blood money’).

After his visit, the family of victim had given the documents of mercy petition to the UAE government. But the UAE government didn’t approve the mercy petition as the gravity of the case was more. As the relevant laws were amended, the mercy could not be obtained, as the court rejected the plea.

But, KTR didn’t stop at that. He renewed his request with the officials he had called on earlier and urged them to ensure the repatriation of the five persons by having the mercy petition approved by UAE ruler Sheikh Mohammed.

KTR had met some businessmen who were closely connected with the ruler’s family and urged them to ensure the hapless prisoners were released.

KTR ensured that they five men reached home safely after their release by sending them return tickets to Hyderabad.