By IANS,
Jalandhar (Punjab) : Seventeen Indian youth on the death row in Sharjah for killing a Pakistani national could walk free in May as blood money has already been deposited in court for being paid to the victim’s family, a Dubai-based Indian hotelier said here Wednesday.
Addressing mediapersons here, S.P. Singh Oberoi said that the next hearing of the Sharjah court was on April 22 and a decision on releasing the Indian youth could be taken then.
The 17 men, 16 from Punjab and one from Haryana, had been sentenced to death by a Shariat court in Sharjah, March 2010. They were convicted of murdering a Pakistani man, Misri Khan, and injuring three others January 2009, following a fight over illegal liquor business.
The murder took place in Al Sajaa area of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The victim died of stab wounds and also suffered brain damage, police had said.
The Dubai-based Indian community deposited blood money in a court in Sharjah last year to secure their pardon. The blood money was to be paid to Misri Khan’s family.
Though the court had accepted the blood money, the release of the youths was delayed as two other men injured in the assault are now seeking compensation.
The Indian men had all along maintained that they were not involved in the murder of the Pakistani national and that they had been framed in the case.
All the convicted men in UAE are between 17 and 30 years of age and all of them belong to lower middle-class families in India. The Indian consulate had also hired a law firm in UAE to defend them.