A car rental company in Bahrain has agreed to withdraw an eight-year-old lawsuit against a critically ill Indian man so that he can return to his home country for treatment.

The company decided to drop the case against 44-year-old Malappadi Kandy Balakrishnan, who has been diagnosed with acute renal failure, following an appeal made by the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society to help him fly home for further treatment.

The car company 'Oscar Rent A Car' alleged that Balakrishnan had used a car for one year in 1994 without paying the rent, but the Indian claimed that the company gave him the car to use in return for jobs he did for it.

Indian community workers have been raising funds to send him to India for treatment.

"What was stopping him from being able to leave was a lawsuit, asking him to pay BD 2,600 for a car he rented for seven months," Surya Charitable and Cultural Association

General Secretary K R Nair was quoting as saying in Gulf Daily News.

Balakrishnan has lived in Bahrain for 18 years and has not been home for 14 years.