A Saudi sponsor is preventing the release of the body of Indian worker who committed suicide seven months ago, demanding $45,000 from the family of the deceased who remains unburied.

The Saudi daily Arab News reported last week about the case of a Saudi sponsor who has been withholding his consent for the release of the body of Vijay Mohan, a 55-year-old Indian man who worked for him for 20 years in his furniture shop. The Saudi sponsor claims that Mohan stole SR 170,000 (around $45,000) from him and demands that the family pay this sum before releasing the body. Mohan's family back in Kerala states that the worker hasn't stole anything from his sponsor, and in fact the Saudi man owes them Vijay's unpaid salaries. The family is struggling to survive, living from hand-to-mouth, and of course cannot afford to pay this huge sum of money.