ABU DHABI // Yogaselvan Sugumaran has been stuck in the UAE for more than a year with no passport and no job, relying on friends and the Indian community to raise the funds to pay a Dh100,000 blood money debt his company would not pay from insurance.
He was riding in the cab of his broken-down truck as it was being towed by another truck that struck and killed a road worker last year. "I have no work," he said. "I just sit around all day." Mr Sugumaran, who is married with two children, receives money from the Indian embassy for food and housing and also lives off handouts from his friends. Along with efforts from the Kerala Social Centre, Mr Sugumaran's friends, mostly taxi drivers in the city, have appealed to their companies for donations. They hope to offer Dh50,000 to the victim's family.
"The collection is ongoing," said KB Murali, the president of the social centre. "At the moment, there are offers for half of the amount. We are confident that we will at least reach that figure." Mr Sugumaran, 29, who worked at Aims International, was driving a truck from Kuwait to Sharjah when it broke down. Instead of sending a recovery vehicle, the company sent another truck to illegally tow his.
On the way back to Abu Dhabi, the second truck struck and killed Nanda Bahadour Danji, a Nepalese road worker. The driver, Ali Zaghloul Rashwan, was found guilty of manslaughter and towing a mechanically unsound vehicle. So was Mr Sugumaran. Each was ordered to pay half the blood money of Dh200,000. After 58 days in jail, Mr Sugumaran was released with no passport, no job or salary and a debt of Dh100,000.
"I am not from here, I didn't know it was illegal to pull one truck with another," he said. "I don't know the laws." Mr Sugumaran said he was riding in the cab of his broken-down truck. Court records state the other defendant was driving the second truck. According to Khaled Mustafa, an independent lawyer, if the second truck was insured, the insurers should be paying the blood money. "The law states clearly that the insurance company should pay for any damage caused by the insured car," Mr Mustafa said.
"But the insurance company has to pay for the victim or family and then if they want to dispute they should file a lawsuit later against the transport company." However, the second truck had been subcontracted from Aims International to Abral Sharq Transport, making the question of which company should pay the blood money a murky one. In June, the Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi ruled that a subcontractor was responsible during the accidental death of a construction worker, based on the contract both companies had signed.
However, in a case in March, it ordered both the employing company and a subcontractor to pay blood money to the family of a worker in Sharjah who died on the job. The two apparently contradictory cases mean there is no clear precedent. Aims International had told the embassy that it would pay the blood money, but has not, according to the Indian embassy. And the subcontracter, Abral Sharq, has not replied to the embassy's inquiries.
A spokesman for the Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi said an official at the Indian embassy in Kuwait said Aims had said its insurance would cover the blood money, but "it turned out to be untrue". "The accident was on the job," said the spokesman. "The employer is duty-bound to cover these costs." He said the embassy has also written to Abral Sharq Transport's offices in Sharjah, but has yet to receive a response.
Neither Aims International nor Abral Sharq Transport could be reached for comment.
* With additional reporting by Hassan Hassan
mdetrie@thenational.ae
sbhattacharya@thenational.ae
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
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Year of birth: 1988
Place of birth: Baghdad
Education: PhD student and co-researcher at Greifswald University, Germany
Hobbies: Ping Pong, swimming, reading
RESULT
Kolkata Knight Riders 169-7 (20 ovs)
Rajasthan Royals 144-4 (20 ovs)
Kolkata win by 25 runs
Next match
Sunrisers Hyderabad v Kolkata Knight Riders, Friday, 5.30pm
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
It's Monty Python's Crashing Rocket Circus
To the theme tune of the famous zany British comedy TV show, SpaceX has shown exactly what can go wrong when you try to land a rocket.
The two minute video posted on YouTube is a compilation of crashes and explosion as the company, created by billionaire Elon Musk, refined the technique of reusable space flight.
SpaceX is able to land its rockets on land once they have completed the first stage of their mission, and is able to resuse them multiple times - a first for space flight.
But as the video, How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster, demonstrates, it was a case if you fail, try and try again.
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi
Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe
For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.
Golden Dallah
For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.
Al Mrzab Restaurant
For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.
Al Derwaza
For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup.
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Blah
Started: 2018
Founder: Aliyah Al Abbar and Hend Al Marri
Based: Dubai
Industry: Technology and talent management
Initial investment: Dh20,000
Investors: Self-funded
Total customers: 40
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Civil%20War
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COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
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Stan%20Lee
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FA Cup quarter-final draw
The matches will be played across the weekend of 21 and 22 March
Sheffield United v Arsenal
Newcastle v Manchester City
Norwich v Derby/Manchester United
Leicester City v Chelsea
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
New Zealand 21 British & Irish Lions 24
New Zealand
Penalties: Barrett (7)
British & Irish Lions
Tries: Faletau, Murray
Penalties: Farrell (4)
Conversions: Farrell
All or Nothing
Amazon Prime
Four stars
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
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