Body of slain techie reaches Hyderabad
HYDERABAD: The body of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an Indian engineer who was shot dead in Kansas in an alleged hate crime, arrived in Hyderabad on Monday amid an emotional atmosphere.
A special flight of Air India, carrying the mortal remains of 32-year old Kuchibhotla, landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad on the city outskirts at around 9.40pm. The flight, which was originally supposed to arrive at 8.45pm, was delayed almost by an hour.
Kuchibhotla’s wife Sunayana Dumala, his younger brother Sai Kiran, his wife and a couple of his friends from the US accompanied the body. Friends and several relatives, including Kuchibhotla’s father K Madhusudhana Chary, and a large number of his colony residents, reached the airport to receive the body.
Telangana state transport minister P Mahender Reddy, Malkajgiri MP Ch Malla Reddy, and MLAs G Kishan Reddy and KP Vivekanand, besides Andhra information minister Palle Raghunath Reddy were also among those who were present at the airport.
On behalf of the Telangana government, Mahender Reddy placed a wreath on the body and paid respects to the departed soul.
A convoy then proceeded with the body, which was taken in a special ambulance arranged by the state government, to the family’s residence in Bachupally. According to sources close to his family, the cremation will take place at Mahaprasthanam modern cremation ground at Jubilee Hills at around 11.30 am on Tuesday.
Police made elaborate arrangements on the airport premises to prevent the crowd from disturbing the relatives. Entry to the area, including for the media, was restricted till the convoy left the airport with the body.
Kuchibhotla was killed on Wednesday evening when 52-year-old Adam Purinton walked into Austins Bar and Grill in the Kansas City suburb of Olathe and opened fire.
His friend, Alok Madasani, and Ian Grillot, a bar-goer who tried to intervene in the attack, were also shot, but survived.
Witnesses told local media they heard the suspect yell, “Get out of my country.
” Meanwhile, the FBI has launched an investigation to determine whether the shooting was a hate crime.
Purinton has been charged with one count of premeditated first-degree murder and two counts of attempted premeditated first-degree murder. NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court came to the relief of an acid attack victim from Telangana as it ordered ₹3.5 lakh compensation for her and one-year jail term for the accused, whose punishment the high court had reduced to 30 days — time already spent behind bars — despite holding him guilty.
Shocked at the HC’s lenient approach towards the accused, a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and R Bhanumathi restored the rigorous one year imprisonment the accused was handed out by the trial court. State government was directed to pay ₹3 lakh of the compensaturned tion amount and the court asked the accused to give the balance.
“…the approach of the HC shocks us and we have no hesitation in saying so.
When there is medical evidence that there was an acid attack on the young girl and the circumstances having brought home by cogent evidence and the conviction is given the stamp of approval, there was no justification in reducing the sentence to already undergone,” the SC said. The judges said it was impossible to understand the logic that guided the HC to show an “unknown notion of mercy” to the accused in a case where society “at large eagerly waits for justice to be done in accordance with law.”
The SC verdict came on the victim’s petition challenging the HC order in a 13-year-old case.
The woman was attacked in 2003 because her family had