Hyderabad : Family members, relatives, friends and people from different walks of life bid a tearful adieu to Indian techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was shot dead in the US on February 22 in a suspected hate crime.
His last rites were performed at the cremation ground in Jubilee Hills here on Tuesday.
K. Madhusudhana Sastry performed the last rites of his son as some of the mourners including the techie’s friends were seen carrying placards with slogans like “down with racism”.
Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, Bharatiya Janata Party General Secretary Muralidhar Rao, other leaders from the BJP, TRS and other parties, and actor couple Jeevitha and Rajasekhar paid their last respects.
The body was brought from Kuchibhotla’s house in Bachupally, on the city’s outskirts.
As his final journey began, the engineer’s parents were inconsolable while his wife Sunayana Dumala, who arrived with the mortal remains on Monday night, broke down as she had his last glimpse.
The body was brought by a cargo flight while Sunayana, her brother, sister-in-law and another relative reached by a passenger flight.
Mourners poured in at his residence through the night and Tuesday morning to pay their last respects.
Kuchibhotla, 32, was killed and Alok Madasani was injured when Adam W. Purinton, a white man who earlier served in the US Navy, shot them at the Austins Bar and Grill in Olathe, Kansas state, on February 22.
Purinton got into an argument with the two and hurled racial slurs. He yelled “get out of my country”, “terrorist” before shooting them.
Kuchibhotla of Hyderabad and his colleague Madasani from Warangal district in Telangana were working as aviation programme managers at Garmin, an MNC.
Mother questions Trump’s policies
The mother of Indian techie who was shot dead in the US last week in a suspected racist attack, questioned the immigration policies of President Donald Trump, which allegedly triggered racist attacks.
“The US is the country of migration. People from all countries migrate to US. Who are you to say don’t come,” asked Parvatha Vardhini, mother of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was cremated here on Tuesday.
“If you kill people because of their colour and race, what will happen to their parents? Did you give birth to them, raised and educated them,” asked the grief-stricken mother, opening up for the first time since Kansas shooting incident which killed her son.
Parvatha said her son had gone to the bar with his friend to see the football match on a big screen. “His wife had gone to the office and till her return he wanted to spend some time. Was this a crime?” she asked while talking to media persons at their house in Bachupally on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
She claimed that Kuchibhotla did not say anything to the man who entered into an argument. “My son did not say anything even though the attacker kept throwing racial slurs,” she said.
She said Indians living in the US should stay united to prevent such incidents. She, however, was not sure how they will succeed in the atmosphere created in that country.
His wife Sunayna Damala, who was staying with him in Kansas, and some other relatives also flew in from the US.
