DAMMAM, May 1 (Arab News): Grateful eyes across India turned toward Saudi Arabia Saturday after it was revealed Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah had ordered the release of an indigent Indian trucker languishing in prison for five years after he was involved in a fatal accident.

Fifty-five-year-old Abdul Kalam Kunju of Kerala had been incarcerated in a Riyadh jail since July 2006 after a tractor-trailer rig lost a wheel that hit a Saudi family’s van, killing three and incapacitating a young girl.

He was convicted and ordered to pay reparations of SR468,000, a fairly normal resolution for such a case.

Abdul Kalam had neither insurance nor the cash to make the payment, and his employer felt no responsibility to help him, so after impassioned pleas on his behalf, King Abdullah ordered the amount paid and the expatriate repatriated to his home country. He was released last week and flew home on Friday.

Shihab Kottukadu, a popular Riyadh-based Indian social worker, took up his case and approached the Royal Court. In an appeal made directly to King Abdullah, he pleaded for a sympathetic hearing on the case and for the release of Abdul Kalam.

This appeal led to a fresh investigation into the accident, and it was determined there was no way Abdul Kalam could pay such a large sum.

The king then ordered the compensation to be paid from the government exchequer. That resulted in Abdul Kalam’s release last week. When he landed back home Friday in Kollam, his hometown, there were many teary eyes. Most of them had nothing but words of gratitude for King Abdullah.

“We have heard of fairytales when a just king arrives on the scene and saves an innocent soul. Here it happened in reality,” one of his brothers told Arab News from Kerala. “There was no way we could have arranged that kind of money; it comes to about a whopping 5 million rupees here. We have no words to thank the benevolent king. We can only pray for his long life.”

Jeddah-based Indian journalist Kasim Irrikur said the king’s gesture has touched every heart in India.

“For all the bad press that Saudi Arabia gets, such gestures create enormous goodwill. For all the isolated cases of maid abuse that we hear about, we seldom hear the media talking about such cases. Abdul Kalam’s may not be the only case. There may have been many such cases, but it is usually the negative ones that get reported.”

He confirmed that it is big news in all newspapers and television channels in India. “Thank you, Saudi Arabia, Thank you King Abdullah.”