Abu Dhabi: A 45-year-old Indian expat returned home on Wednesday after languishing in prison for nine years awaiting the death penalty in the United Arab Emirates.
The man was awarded the death sentence for causing the death of a young Sudanese boy in a road accident case.
The release of Charavattayi Becks Krishnan of Kerala came after Yusuf Ali, the chairman of Lulu Group paid Rs 1 crore (500,000 dirhams) in damages in court to secure an early release.
After nine years, Krishnan departed from Abu Dhabi on Tuesday night and reached Kochi early morning on Wednesday.
Krishnan has been sentenced to death by the UAE Supreme Court after being found guilty of causing the death of a young boy. He crashed his car into a group of kids in September 2012.
Since then, his family and friends have been relentlessly trying to release Krishnan without any success, especially since the victim’s family has already returned and settled in Sudan, putting an end to any kind of discussion.
As a last resort, the Krishnan family reached out to Yusuf Ali, who proceeded to obtain details of the case and reached out to all stakeholders.
At one point, Yusuf Ali transported the victim’s family from Sudan to Abu Dhabi for a month and had extensive discussions to come up with a compensation amount and secure a pardon for Krishnan.
“This is a second lease term of life for me. I’m very happy. I came home because of Yusuf Ali,” Krishnan told Khaleej Times after landing at Kochi International Airport.
There were emotional scenes where Krishnan’s wife, Veena and son, greeted Krishnan at the airport. Veena said that everyone gave her hope to save her husband from the death penalty with the support of Yusuf Ali.
Krishnan’s mother Chandrika told the media: “I am at a loss for words to thank Yusuf Ali. He is a God-like person to us now. I can only say we owe him to death.”
“I’m not trying to do charity after my chopper accident. I paid the compensation amount in January. He is young and has a family. You cannot measure the value of life with money,” Khaleej Times quoted Yusuf Ali.