An Indian family is seeking SR3 billion (Dh3bn) damages from Saudi Arabia for the demolition of a religious property it had owned near the Grand Mosque in Islam’s holiest shrine decades ago, a Saudi newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The family from Kerala was offered SR1.4 million (Dh1.4m) compensation for the Waqf (endowments centre) in 1971, when the Gulf kingdom launched a massive development project for the Grand Mosque In the Western town of Makkah.
But no one from that family came to Saudi Arabia to receive the money, prompting Riyadh to deposit the funds with the Ministry of Finance.
“The family said it would soon come to Saudi Arabia with all the necessary documents proving that it owned that property but that it will demand SR3 billion on the grounds the compensation offered in 1971 is now worth this sum,” the Saudi daily Sabq said, adding that the family had built that centre nearly 165 years ago to serve Muslim pilgrims from the Subcontinent.
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