KOCHI: Seven-year-old Athmiya is waiting for her father to return. Her mother Sreekutty spends every moment in sorrow, not knowing what to say to her. 33-year-old Nithun had gone to Saudi Arabia for work. There has been no news about him for two years.

Nithun, the son of Suresh and Shobha, who live on rent in Ayyankuzhi, Chottanikkara, has been missing since January 2023. Nithun, a salon employee, went to Saudi Arabia on November 17, 2022. He was working as a salesman at Al Rahdan Company in Riyadh. He received a salary of Rs. 40,000 in the first few months. His salary was stopped from the fifth month. He decided to return to India, but the company did not issue an exit permit. He decided to return to his homeland through an agent in Batʼha introduced by his friends in Riyadh. The family sent Rs. 1.5 lakh. The amount was handed over to the agent on January 17, 2023.

Petitions were submitted regarding this to the police station, Chief Minister and the Union Ministry of External Affairs. Norka and the embassy were approached. The rent is yet to be paid due to lack of income. The owner has asked Nithun's parents to vacate the house in March. Shobha fell ill after her son went missing. Nithun's wife Sreekutty, who returned to her family home in Kayamkulam, works in a private institution for a meagre income to educate her daughter.

Missing halfway

The agent brought Nithun to Jazan by air on January 22. Nithun had told Sreekutty that the agent had informed him that he had reached Jazan and that he would return home via Yemen. From Jazan, Nithun and four others were taken to the Yemen border in a car. Nithun had spoken to Sreekutty then. Nithun's last words to Sreekutty were that he had a long way to go and to call the agent if she could not reach him. Nithun could not be contacted later. Several attempts were made to contact the agent, but there was no answer.