[gallery size="medium" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" td_gallery_title_input="Indian farm worker walks free after 10 years on death row" ids="122678,122679,122680"]
By Irfan Mohammed
JEDDAH — “Indeed Saudi Arabia is the Kingdom of Humanity; we have practically experienced the kindness and benefaction of Saudis, which has resulted in a new lease life for my husband, who was saved by a Saudi philanthropist from death row. My entire family is indebted to him,” said Indian housewife Chepuri Laxmi.
Laxmi burst into tears of joy while speaking to Saudi Gazette over phone. In a choked voice, she said her husband was given a new lease of life only by the noble gesture of the Saudi man, who did not even know him but simply acted on humanitarian grounds.
Chepuri Limbadri, a farm worker, was sentenced to death after he was convicted of killing a Saudi during a brawl in 2006. The 50-year-old walked free last Sunday after languishing more than 10 years in a Najran prison awaiting his execution.
He was released after Saudi businessman Awad Ali Quraya paid SR1.3 million in blood money to the heirs of the dead Saudi.
Laxmi said her husband told her that he did not know Quraya nor had he heard of him until the prison staff told him.
She said her husband had enjoyed his work in the Kingdom and the family was leading a happy life.
“We were able to celebrate the wedding of our elder daughter Shyamala in a grand scale only because of his earnings in Saudi Arabia. My husband was happy with his life in Saudi Arabia,” she said.
Laxmi recalled how he had told relatives and villagers who had assembled for their daughter’s wedding about the generosity of the Saudi people.
Laxmi said that fateful incident occurred just two months after Limbadri returned to Saudi Arabia after vacation.
Narrating his ordeal, Laxmi said the family was initially not aware of the death sentence and thought he was only imprisoned. She said when they came to know about the death sentence they were shocked and accumulating the huge amount of blood money was not even imaginable to them.
Hailing from Nizamabad district in Telangana state in India, Limbadri was working as farm hand in Najran.
As per case details revealed by family sources, back in 2006 a heated argument broke out between Limbadri and a neighboring Saudi farmer, apparently over grazing.
The Saudi fell down when Limbadri pushed him aside during the quarrel. He later died in hospital due to injuries sustained during the fall.
Limbadri was arrested by the police and a court sentenced him to death. The Indian consulate in Jeddah helped him file appeals in the upper court and later in the Supreme Court, but the lower court verdict was upheld on both occasions.
Since then Limbadri’s family lost any hope of seeing him again. However, top Indian diplomats from Faiz Ahmed Kidwai to Noor Rahman Sheikh had tried to negotiate with the victim’s family an out-of-court settlement, but all their attempts were in vain.
Quraya, a heavy equipment dealer in Dhahran, learned about the plight of Limbadri and volunteered to pay SR1.3 million in blood money to the heirs of the victim to secure his release.
Saudi Gazette was not able to reach Quraya for his comments.
