Two Telangana families, Rs 13 crore away
Hyderabad’s diaspora math in Saudi Arabia: Rs 12.5 crore demanded to waive a death sentence in one case, Rs 84 lakh ordered in another — and Delhi’s help is a pamphlet about “legal guidance.”
Two separate Saudi legal cases have left Telangana families facing large private-right payments.
Two men from Telangana are stuck in Saudi Arabia facing private-right payouts that add up to roughly Rs 13.3 crore, according to two published reports — a figure that is the sum of two separate cases, not one bill. The families are asking for help. The BJP-led Centre’s embassy, per one report, offered community “contributions” and phone numbers for lawyers.
Siasat reports that Riyadh-based Hyderabadi Suheeb Nahdi, 50, has been sentenced to death after a fatal road incident on January 28, 2025, and that a translated Saudi judgment it reviewed records a conviction for “premeditated and malicious murder.” It says the victim’s family demanded 5 million Saudi riyals — about Rs 12.5 crore — as diya to waive retribution, with execution reportedly deferred until the deceased’s minor heirs come of age. Nahdi denies deliberately killing the man and disputes an alleged confession. The judgment itself was not published in full; the account rests on Siasat’s review.
In a separate case, both Siasat and a national daily report that Shravan Kumar, 39, from Bodhan, was driving an ambulance in Riyadh when an accident on May 6, 2024 killed a Saudi couple and injured their children. A Saudi court ordered him to pay 330,000 riyals — about Rs 84 lakh — to the heirs. He is on bail, barred from leaving, and says his iqama has expired, so he cannot work legally.
Siasat says an Indian Embassy letter dated July 30, 2026 told Kumar the penalties can’t be waived by government, the travel ban lifts only after payment, settlement or a court order, and the embassy won’t fund a lawyer — it would “explore voluntary contributions.” That letter wasn’t published; the details are Siasat’s paraphrase. Telangana officials have, per Siasat, taken up both cases with the embassy and the Ministry of External Affairs.
The numbers here matter. The Rs 13.3 crore cited is not a single legal order — it combines a reported 5-million-riyal demand in Nahdi’s matter with a court-ordered 330,000 riyals in Kumar’s. Exchange rates and final liabilities depend on documents not yet public.
Meanwhile, the families are counting days and rupees. Delhi is counting guidelines. The BJP-led Centre can spare primetime for “vishwaguru”; it hasn’t spared a plan for two Telangana households staring at a price tag they can’t meet.