Ailing UAE resident of 52 years seeks fine waiver to return to Kerala

Ajman: “I want to live the rest of my life in Kerala. Let my death be there in my motherland.”

This is the plea of a semi-paralysed Indian man, 79, who claims to have landed in the UAE in a wooden catamaran 52 years ago, and is seeking repatriation during the coronavirus pandemic.

K. Raghavan, who once ran two tailoring shops in Dubai and a trading company in Ajman, had been unable to fly home due to the fines he incurred after his business went bust.

Now living in a cramped room in Dubai’s Jaffiliya area, Raghavan said he had lost everything that he had earned in life by the time he fell sick with an ulcer and was eventually left semi-paralysed.