India demands US action over hate-crime killing
Calls on Donald Trump to condemn the shootings
NEW DELHI // India yesterday demanded the “strongest action” from the United States government after an Indian man was killed and another wounded in a suspected hate crime in the Midwestern state of Kansas. The two men, who had been living in the US for the past few years, were shot at a bar outside Kansas City late on Wednesday. “The US should respond to this incident,” information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu said.
“The American president and people of America, they should come out openly to condemn such actions and then take strongest action.”
Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32, was killed and Alok Reddy Madasani, 32, was wounded in the attack. Both men worked as aviation systems engineers for GPS maker Garmin.
“These kind of incidents involving racial discrimination are shameful,” Mr Naidu said in the southern city of Hyderabad where the victims’ families live.
US authorities arrested Adam Purinton, 51, who allegedly told the men to “get out of my country” before opening fire.
Mr Purinton was detained on Wednesday at a restaurant after claiming he had killed two Middle Easterners. He has been charged with first- degree murder and two counts of attempted first- degree murder and is being held on a US$2 million (Dh7.34m) bail.
The FBI said it was trying to determine if the shooting was a hate crime.
Mr Madasani’s parents were scheduled to leave for the US yesterday. His father Jagan Mohan Reddy, a chief engineer with the Telangana state government, said they would spend at least a week in the US before “taking stock of what to do next”.
“Somehow, by God’s grace, my son survived,” Mr Reddy said.
He said his son and the deceased were very good friends and had known each other for at least six years in the US.
“It is unthinkable that they have been separated like this,” he said.
The shooting made headlines in India amid concerns that the hardline immigration policies of president Donald Trump may have laid the groundwork for such an attack.
India’s top diplomat, foreign secretary S Jaishankar, is visiting Washington tomorrow to hold talks with the new US administration.
He was to raise concerns over proposed US legislation that could make it harder for companies to replace American workers with those from India and other countries during the four-day visit.
Now he is also expected to discuss safety for foreigners.
Incidents involving racial discrimination are shameful, says Indian minister