Indian social worker commits suicide in UAE

A 35-year-old prominent Indian social worker in the UAE has allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in his apartment, a media report has said.

Sandeep Vellaloor, a staff surveyor in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) emirate, suffered a huge financial loss after setting up a transport company, which is believed to have prompted him to hang himself, Khaleej Times reported on Sunday.

The father of three was a prominent social worker. His two roommates were not at home when he apparently committed suicide, it said.

Police have started an investigation into the incident, the report said.

"After coming back from work, they found the door locked from inside, and had to break open the lock to get in. To their shock, they found him hanging from the ceiling," said Prasad Sreedharan, a social worker affiliated with a medical committee recently constituted by the Consulate General of India in Dubai.

Vellaloor was the general secretary of Yulan Kala Sahiti and team leader of the Friends Cricket Association.

"He regularly organised blood donation camps in RAK. The Ministry of Health and Prevention had honoured him in 2016 with a certificate of appreciation and memento for the humanitarian act," Sreedharan said.

"He contributed Rs 400,000 to the family of an Indian worker who was paralysed and then died in a road accident here in RAK in 2017," he said.

Vellaloor sent his family to India three years ago and was staying with two of his friends in a villa behind the RAK immigration department.

His body has been shifted to the morgue at the Ibrahim Bin Obaidulla Hospital and the repatriation process will be initiated shortly, said Nisham Noorudheen, president RAK Indian Relief Committee (IRC).