Akambadam Putuveettil Anas

A mental patient shot dead an Indian driver who worked for a Saudi family in the holy city’s Al-Sharaeyeh neighborhood Saturday morning, according to Makkah Police spokesman Lt. Col. Atiyah Al-Qurashi.

Police arrested the suspect, a young Saudi who according to reports had a history of mental illness, immediately after the murder.

Witnesses identified the victim as Akambadam Putuveettil Anas, 24, from Nilambur in the south Indian state of Kerala.

The assailant, who is the son of the victim’s woman sponsor, fired four shots at Anas at around 5 a.m. Saturday. He died on the spot. Saudi relatives overpowered the gunman and handed him over to the police.

The incident, which came only a few weeks after a similar incident in Riyadh, shook the expatriate community in Makkah.

A mentally-ill Saudi stabbed an Indian grocery store worker to death in broad daylight on a public road in the capital city on April 1.

The victim, who also hailed from the same region in Kerala, was attacked allegedly because he refused to sell the assailant cigarettes without money.

Mujeeb Pukkottur, general secretary of the Makkah unit of Kerala Muslim Cultural Center, said Anas was from a poor family and he arrived in the Kingdom only one week ago to support his relatives back home.
He was unmarried.

The body was taken to the morgue of King Faisal Hospital. Investigations are ongoing to find out the circumstances that led to the murder.