For close to two decades, Yellavva has been tethered to the anguish of separation, waiting endlessly for the return of her husband, languishing in jail in a foreign country since 2005. The 45-year-old stone cutter from Chandurthi village near Telangana’s temple town of Vemulawada has been leading a hand-to-mouth existence and has single-handedly raised her three children since her husband, Gollem Nampelly, left for Dubai in search of greener pastures.
Fondly known as Nampelly Venkati, the 51-year-old is among five Gulf migrant workers from the erstwhile composite Karimnagar district, who were convicted by a Dubai court and sentenced to 25 years in jail for the death of a Nepali man in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the fag end of 2005. Venkati left for Dubai in 2003, nurturing hopes of earning a substantial income to carve out a bright future for his three children — two sons and a daughter. But fate willed otherwise. He used to get a pittance as a construction worker with hardly any savings to send back home.
The other four convicted in the murder case — Shivarathri Mallesh, his brother Shivarathri Ravi, D. Laxman and S. Hanumanthu — were released from prison recently after serving 18 years of their sentence following approval of their mercy petitions by the UAE government. They were repatriated to India last month, paving the way for reunion with their families here.
