Was the NRI beheaded in Saudi Arabia innocent? An Indian was beheaded in Saudi Arabia on charges of drug smuggling last week, but now an Indian embassy report says he was innocent.
Sources in the External Affairs Ministry said they had received reports from Saudi Arabia that Shah Jahan, an auto rickshaw driver from Wayanad district of Kerala, was in fact innocent and was duped by two visa agents. Shah Jahan had reportedly been tricked by two people - one from his hometown and the other from Chennai - who helped him get a visa to Saudi Arabia. The Ministry sources said there has been no information about these two. The Saudi authorities arrested Shah Jahan in December 2000 at Dammam during his maiden trip to the country after they found heroin in the inner pockets of his handbag. According to a report sent from the Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia, the two men who arranged the visa for Shah Jahan had bought him the clothes and a bag to carry them. Apparently, the narcotics had already been hidden inside the inner pockets of the bag when he received it. Unaware of the presence of narcotics in his bags, he carried them and got caught. His ignorance and inexperience put him in trouble again during an interrogation by a judge. When asked whether it was he who closed the bag, Shah Jahan reportedly said 'yes'. He was sentenced to death on June 10, 2003. He has left behind a wife and a son as well as four sisters at his home in Wayanad. Indian Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed, expressing his helplessness, said: "One has to be cautious of possible cheats in the visa and documentation agencies. All you can do is be careful." -- Cheers, Gabe Menezes. London, England
