Mistaken identity: Umrah pilgrim from Karnataka jailed in Saudi Arabia

May 22, 2017

Bengaluru, May 22: A timber merchant from Karnataka, who went to Saudi Arabia last month along with a group of pilgrims to perform Umrah last month, is now languishing in a prison in Jeddah. It is said that mistaken identity led to the pilgrim’s arrest in the Arab Kingdom as he shares his name and date of birth with a fugitive.

Nayaz Ahmed (41), hailing from Tumakuru district, was part of a 33-member group of pilgrims from Karnataka that landed in Saudi Arabia's Jeddah on April 20. While fellow pilgrims were given security clearance, Ahmed was detained and questioned as his name and date of birth matched with the details of a criminal on the run. It has been more than a month since Ahmed was arrested by the Saudi police and what has complicated the case is that the suspect who the authorities were looking for is also from Karnataka.

"They have the right name but the wrong person. Nayaz had gone on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia and was arrested on landing there. He has committed no crime," said his father Ansar, a resident of Subramanyanagar in Turuvekere in Tumakuru district.

Ahmed and his fellow tourists tried to explain to the authorities that it was his maiden trip to the country and he has no criminal background. Another round of cross-verification was done and the authorities maintained that the passport issuing office in both the cases was the same and he cannot be released. "The suspect wanted by the Saudi police had also got his passport from Bengaluru. The name of the father in the suspect's passport was mentioned as Shahid Ahmed while in Nayaz's it was different. Yet, they were not convinced," Ansar said.

The reluctance to release Nayaz has left his wife, son and daughter worried. "We have shown all the documents to the Indian Embassy and they have communicated twice to the Saudi authorities, but our son has not been released," Ansar said. "The family also spoke to local Saudi leaders and appealed for help, but nothing has been forthcoming. Nayaz is innocent," said Aslam Pasha, a maulvi from Turuvekere.

The family has now appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to intervene and help bring Nayaz home.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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