Daijiworld Media Network – Dubai (SD)

Dubai, Apr 29: The Dubai police on Wednesday, April 29, confirmed that the death of an Indian Industrialist from Kerala, Joy Arakkal was an act of suicide, reports from The Gulf News said.

He committed suicide by jumping off from a building in Business Bay, the Dubai police said.

Director of Bur Dubai Police Station, Brigadier Abdullah Khadim Bin Sorour spoke to Gulf News, "We received a report about a man plunging to his death from the fourteenth floor of a building on Thursday. The businessman committed suicide over financial problems."

The Dubai police has ruled out all possibilities of foul play behind the suicide and said that the department is coordinating with the family on the possibility to send the body back to India.

Arakkal was the managing director of Innova Group of Companies headquartered at Dubai which run wide varieties of business focused mostly on the oil sector. He was also UAE gold card visa recipient. Arakkal is survived by his wife and two children, Arun and Ashly who live at Jumeirah.

Arrakal's family is all set to fly back to India with the deceased body as soon as they receive green signal from the Indian authorities to travel in a chartered air ambulance, consul general of India in Dubai, Vipul told the Gulf News.

Vipul said, "They have received the NOCs (No Objection Certificates) from India. We have taken it up with the UAE MoFAIC (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Internation Cooperation) for necessary permits from
the UAE side. "

As soon as the the special permission is granted, a chartered air ambulance from Bengaluru would fly to carry the body.

Silent embalming

The embalming service was done on Tuesday, April 28, and was attended by only a few social workers and community leaders working closely with Arakkal's family for the repatriation of the body.

Advocate Hashik T K said, "Only the family members and a few of his employees were present apart from us,"

He also said that member of Indian parliament from Kerala M K Raghavan and R Harikumar of Elite Group in the UAE have extended a lot of support towards securing approvals from the Indian authorities.

"We have been requesting the central and state governments to consider the emotional aspects of traditional funeral process in the case of expats who die abroad."

He said that in the past two weeks nearly two dozens of bodies were flown back to India in cargo flights but none from the family were allowed to accompany the body so far.

Apart from Arakkal's family, a cancer patient seeking treatment from Nottingham along with the family received clearance from the Indian government to fly back to Calicut International Airport in Kerala.

Funeral and quarantine

The family has agreed upon adhering to the quarantine guidelines issued by the Indian authorities.

The funeral would be held in Mananthavady in Wayanad district in Kerala at the huge mansion of about 45,000 sq ft built by Arakkal last year. It is also one of the biggest mansion in the entire state of Kerala.

A community member said, "It is sad that he could stay in that house for a month or so only,"

He said that Arakkal had extended help towards building homes for the poor and supported weddings of several young couples in his hometown.

In the UAE, his companies include oil refineries, petrochemical trading, ISO tank cleaning service, shipping services, and a telecom company working for infrastructure projects in the UAE.

Arakkal is credited with many awards including lifetime achievement award from the chief minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan during his visit to Dubai.