HYDERABAD: Officials at the Shamshabad airport were in for a shock Wednesday. A woman, who arrived from Saudi Arabia with a coffin containing a highly decomposed body, abandoned it and simply vanished.
But before disappearing into the city, she had taken away the passport of the dead man, his death certificate issued by the Saudi authorities and other valuables. Officials have no clue to her identity. Preliminary probe indicates she might have made away with the documents to claim an insurance amount of `6 lakh that the bereaved family was supposed to get. The woman was said to be in a relationship with the man before he died.
The cargo staff tried to contact her based on the number given on the No Objection Certificate but the phone was switched off. Then they alerted a social worker, Shaik Chand Pasha, who helps in bringing remains of people from the state from Arab countries.
Chand Pasha, president of the Gulf Returnees’ Welfare Association, told Express he received a call from the cargo staff that the woman had abandoned a coffin. “I informed the Telangana NRI cell officials who alerted the police to locate the address of the deceased in the city as per his passport,’’ he said. The RGIA police identified the body as that of Shaik Imtiyaz Ahmed of Golconda Hills. One Qurshid Abdul Azeed Mohammed was supposed to receive the body. However, he did not turn up. Later, the police handed over the body to the bereaved family. Imtiyaz visited Saudi Arabia a few years ago and died five months ago. The cause of his death is unclear.