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For Mr Charavattayi Krishnan Becks, it is nothing short of a new life.
The Indian national landed at the Kochi International Airport in Kerala from the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday a free man.
"I never expected that this day would ever dawn," was the 45-year-old's first statement after seeing his wife Veena and son Adwaith, who received him at the airport.
Mr Krishnan was in an Abu Dhabi jail for six years after the vehicle he was driving hit an eight-year-old Sudanese boy near the industrial town of Musaffah and killed him.
The Indian, who was a driver with a company in the UAE, was taken into custody and found guilty of killing the boy by Abu Dhabi's Supreme Court in September 2012. He was sentenced to death by a firing squad in 2013.
He was released from the jail on Tuesday and allowed to fly home to Thrissur in Kerala after Indian supermarket tycoon M.A. Yusuf Ali paid "blood money" to the victim's family, UAE media reported.
Since 2012, Mr Krishnan's family had campaigned for his release but to no avail.
The boy's family returned to their native Sudan and reportedly rejected the 200,000 dirham ($72,113) Mr Krishnan's relatives offered as blood money to secure his release.
In desperation, his family approached UAE-based Mr Ali, the billionaire founder of the pan-Gulf supermarket chain Lulu, for help.
Mr Ali then reportedly flew to Sudan to meet the family of the victim for negotiations.
"While in jail, I heard about six or seven instances when people accused in cases like mine were executed," said Mr Krishnan.
"Hence I was very tense. But when I heard that Ali sir has taken up my case, I regained hope."
Things started to change for Mr Krishnan when Mr Ali, who also hails from Thrissur, managed to convince the boy's family to accept the blood money and deposited 500,000 dirham at the Abu Dhabi court in January this year.
The court then granted Mr Krishnan's release and on Monday he got the permit to leave UAE.
"It's a rebirth for me, as I had lost all hope of seeing the outside world, let alone a free life," Mr Krishnan told Indian embassy officials at the Al Wathba Jail in Abu Dhabi after he learnt of his release.
"My only wish now is to see Ali sir before flying to my family. I will always be grateful to him."
Mr Ali said on Wednesday that he is happy Mr Krishnan can reunite with his family.
"I have offered him a job and he can return when he wants to take up the job," said the tycoon.
"His life has to move on."
Mr Ali simply thanked the benevolence of the UAE rulers for Mr Krishnan's release.
This is not the first time Mr Ali, the richest expat in the UAE according to Forbes, is securing the release of an Indian national from a jail in the UAE.
In 2019, the 65-year-old paid one million dirham to secure the release of Kerala politician Thushar Vellappally from the Ajman jail.
Mr Vellappally, the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam general secretary, was arrested in Ajman in connection with a cheating case when a cheque (of 10 million dhirham) he had issued to a construction firm bounced.
Indo-Asian New Service
"It's a rebirth for me, as I had lost all hope of seeing the outside world, let alone a free life. My only wish now is to see Ali sir before flying to my family. I will always be grateful to him."
- Mr Charavattayi Krishnan Becks
