Indramani Nautiyal, a truck driver from Gaursada village in the Jaunpur block of Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, has been stranded in Saudi Arabia for eight years.
- Nautiyal went to Riyadh in 2018 to work for Pick Roads and Contracting Company.
- He cannot return home because of an unpaid corporate penalty of about Rs 2.29 crore given to his employer after a 2018 road accident.
- Indian diplomats are talking with Saudi authorities about his welfare.
On Friday, 18 September 2026, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson
Randhir Jaiswal confirmed during a briefing in New Delhi that Indian diplomats are in contact with Saudi authorities regarding Nautiyal. Jaiswal stated the Indian mission is in continuous dialogue with local officials, though he could not confirm if a formal prison sentence had been issued against Nautiyal. Uttarakhand Chief Minister
Pushkar Singh Dhami previously wrote to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in August, asking for legal and financial help to bring Nautiyal back safely.
The situation highlights broader issues regarding the treatment of Indian workers in the Gulf, where unpaid corporate debts can lead to workers being barred from leaving the country. Similar distress cases have emerged, including
Mohammed Afroz of Hyderabad, who has been held at the Al-Shumaisi detention centre in Jeddah for nearly two years after arriving in 2014, and
Salman Fariz of Mysuru, who is reportedly jailed in Dubai following a labor dispute. Simultaneously, rescue efforts are ongoing for Indian seafarers involved in an attack on the Panama-flagged tanker MT El Gaia off the coast of Oman. Of the 14 Indian crew members, 13 have been rescued, while one individual, identified in some reports as
Sumit Kumar Singh of Muzaffarpur, remains missing.
