No truth to report of 2 Saudis killed in India prison fight — envoy

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s envoy in New Delhi on Saturday said reports that two Saudi nationals had been killed in a prison fight in eastern India has turned out to be false.
“No Saudi national has been killed inside an Indian jail as claimed by the reports published in the Indian press,” said the Saudi Ambassador to India Saud Mohammed Alsati via phone from New Delhi, on Saturday.
Press reports quoting a police official said two of three prisoners who died in the fight were Saudis.
P. Doungel, the state's director general of police, was quoted as saying the incident took place just before dawn at the Manipur central jail in the state capital Imphal.
The report said two Saudis identified as Sushak Yusuf Ahmed and Abdus Salam killed another inmate named Thangmilian Zou Bobon, provoking a fight with other inmates and resulting in the duo’s deaths.
Ambassador Alsati, however, senior Indian officials have denied the reports.
“I checked with the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and other officials and found that the news is completely false. In fact, there was not even a single Saudi prisoner in India as of today,” he added.
He said that the Kingdom and India enjoyed cordial relations in all spheres.
Saudi Arabia is home to over three million Indian expatriates. A large number of Indian prisoners are currently serving sentences in different jails across the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia is the fourth largest trade partner of India, besides being a major source of its energy. The two-way trade between Riyadh and New Delhi is worth approximately $27 billion. Furthermore, a large number of Saudis travel to different Indian destinations for business and tourism every year.