The relatives of a Bangladeshi Hindu worker killed in a car accident are fighting to have the body dug up from a Muslim cemetery and returned home, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Nonda Lal Das, aged 30, was lowered into an unmarked grave in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah two months ago after no one claimed either his body or blood money for his death worth 40,000 dollars, the Gulf News said.
Since then another 200 people have been buried in unmarked graves at the cemetery, emirate officials said.
The authorities authorized an Islamic burial because the death certificate said the construction laborer was a Muslim, the daily said.
Now a representative of the family, Sujan Kumar, has requested that all the graves be dug up until Das is found.
Kumar told the Gulf News he was facing "great difficulties" to have the remains repatriated to ensure they were cremated in line with Hindu beliefs.
The emirates' Islamic affairs department had rejected a major search of the 200-odd graves to find Das.
Kumar said once the case was settled the family would file for the blood money or diya.
Asians account for a majority of the workforce in the United Arab Emirates federation of which Ras Al Khaimah is one of seven members -- DUBAI (AFP)
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