Grocery worker in coma after grab at man in 4x4 fleeing without paying

Critical grocery employee on ventilator. (Supplied)

A Sharjah grocery worker is struggling for his life in Umm Al Quwain Hospital after he sustained major head and body injuries while trying to prevent a cheating customer from fleeing.

The incident happened in the last week of July.

Mohammed Abdul Rahman (45) of Raheem Grocery near Kuwait Hospital in Sharjah sustained three major head injuries when he resisted a customer in a four-wheel vehicle who tried to speed off without paying for his purchases.

The customer, who came at 10pm, asked for Du and Etisalat cards worth a total of Dh450.

“A customer came in a four-wheel drive and ordered Du and Etisalat recharge coupons for Dh200 and Dh250, respectively. Some affluent customers will not come inside small groceries. Sitting in his vehicle, this customer ordered telephone cards. After I gave him the cards, the customer tried to flee without paying Dh450,” said a colleague of Mohammed who works in the same grocery.

“When Mohammed realised that the customer was trying to flee without paying, he tried to grab his clothes, but the customer drove the vehicle at high speed and Mohammed, who did not let go was dragged behind the vehicle for about 100 metres at high speed.

“He fell down near a road hump, with three major head injuries,” said his colleague who was shocked to see Mohammed lying unconscious in a pool of blood.

“Mohammed was bleeding and was rushed to Kuwait Hospital. As he had to undergo surgery, doctors referred him to Umm Al Quwain hospital. He has been lying there in a state of coma,” added Yasin, his colleague.

As the patient suffers from high blood pressure, his surgery has been delayed. He is almost paralysed and surviving on ventilator.

A police complaint has been made at Sharjah Police’s Al Wasit station by the grocery owner and investigation is on to locate the dubious customer.

A Sharjah Police official confirmed that the crime happened and that the cops are trying to capture the culprit based on the information obtained from the victim and his colleague who work in the grocery.

The Sharjah Police have also alerted other traders about such crimes happening in Sharjah.

The recharge coupons given by Mohammed to the cheating customer have already been used.

Mohammed had been working in the grocery for six years and is the only bread-winner of his family in Palakkad, Kerala in India. 

He had been working in the UAE for eight years and was trying to build his own house back home. “The foundation work had just been completed and his three-member family was temporarily living in a single room. He used to call his family quite often but they have not got his call for the past one week,” said another friend of the victim.

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