Dubai: A 25-year old Indian worker allegedly committed suicide after his company refused to pay him money even for getting a medical treatment, police said.

The person, identified as Arumugam Venkatesan, from Tamil Nadu hanged himself from a ceiling fan in his room on Thursday (Dec 9, 2004) afternoon, they said.

He had been in the UAE for nearly a year, the 'Gulf News' today (Dec 12, 2004) quoted police officials as saying.

Venkatesan did not have money to see a doctor and asked the foreman for Dh 50 (about 600 Rupees) as a salary advance, which he was refused. "Instead, the foreman shouted at him," his co-workers said.

Yesterday, 350 of the company's workers staged a protest over unpaid wages and refused to work. The men said they had arrived in the UAE about three years ago and had not been paid in the last five months, the report said.

The company, which supplies workers to other companies, hired them to work as electricians and on construction sites.

"Venkatesan committed suicide around 2 hrs (IST), when no one else was in his room. We came back around 4.30 hrs and found him hanging. He was in debt, he had borrowed more than Rs 90,000 to pay an agency to come here to work," his co-workers said.

"He, like us, was paid intermittently. He has a sister back home who was dependent on him. Venkatesan left a letter in his native Tamil before committing suicide," a worker said.

"We want the company to pay Venkatesan's dues to his sister and repatriate his body," another worker said.

Meanwhile, 'Khaleej Times' quoted unnamed company official as saying that it was trying to "settle the dues soon."