Pilgrim from Tumakuru held, jailed in Jeddah

TUMAKURU: In what appears to be a case of mistaken identity, a timber merchant from Tumakuru has been arrested and jailed in Saudi Arabia as he shares his name and date of birth with a fugitive.
Nayaz Ahmed, 41, was part of a 33-member group of pilgrims from Karnataka that landed in Saudi Arabia's Jeddah on April 20. While fellow pilgrims were given security clearance, Ahmed was detained and questioned as his name and date of birth matched with the details of a criminal on the run.It has been a month since Ahmed was arrested by the Saudi police and what has complicated the case is that the suspect who the authorit ies were looking for is also from Karnataka.
"They have the right name but the wrong person. Nayaz had gone on a religious tour to Saudi Arabia and was arrested on landing there. He has committed no crime," said his father Ansar, a resident of Subramanyanagar in Turuvekere.
Ahmed and his fellow tourists tried to explain to the authorities that it was his maiden trip to the country and he has no criminal background. Another round of cross-verification was done and the authorities maintained that the passport issuing office in both the cases was the same and he cannot be released. "The suspect wanted by the Saudi police had also got his passport from Bengaluru. The name of the father in the suspe ct's passport was mentioned as Shahid Ahmed while in Nayaz's it was different. Yet, they were not convinced," Ansar said.
The reluctance to release Nayaz has left his wife, son and daughter worried. "We have shown all the documents to the Indian Embassy and they have communicated twice to the Saudi authorities, but our son has not been released," Ansar said. "The family also spoke to local Saudi leaders and appealed for help, but nothing has been forthcoming. Nayaz is innocent," said Aslam Pasha, a maulvi from Turuvekere.
The family has now appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to intervene and help bring Nayaz home.