Kin of murdered Indian student await his body

A pall of grief has descended on the kin of G Prashant Kumar, a 22-year-old student who was murdered in United Sates on Sunday last, as they now await his body.

Prashant, who landed in the US on January 28, was shot dead by intruders in a general store in Oklahoma city, where he was working part-time.

The family and the close relatives watched in shock as local television channels telecast the CCTV footage of the incident on Wednesday. The footage showed Prashant being physically assaulted by the intruders, who then pumped five rounds of bullets into him.

The grief stricken family in Santoshnagara area of Hyderabad and other relatives, who were yet to get official word about the incident, have appealed to the Centre to help them bring his body home.

"Please allow us to see his body one last time," Prashant's father G Rajaiah, who works as a supervisor in medical and health department in Hyderabad, said. Prashant's mother Bharathi and sister Swathi are still in a state of shock.

Prashant had gone to the US to pursue MBA from University of California. According to the family sources, he decided to take up a part-time job to help himself financially. The University had granted him permission to work, as he could have taken his lessons online from anywhere in the country.

One of prashant's cousins, G Chadrasekhar, had advised him against taking up a job in Oklahoma. Chandrasekhar, who had spent four years in the US and had a narrow escape in an incident of mugging, had suggested that Prashant must shift to New York, as Oklahoma was not safe for Indians.

However, Prashant chose to stay back in Oklahoma, probably because of the higher wages that the place offered.

Meanwhile, Prashant's family has received information that other Indian students were making arrangements along with the Telugu Association of North America to send his body home for cremation.

State Minister for NRI Affairs D Sridhar Babu visited the grief stricken family and assured them of all necessary help in bringing the body back from the US.

Andhra Pradesh, from where thousands of students studying in US hail, has witnessed several incidents of violent attacks and murders during the last couple of years in different American cities.

Prashant was quite popular among his friends and classmates in Hyderabad. He was fond of acting and had worked in a hit Telugu movie Boys. But despite hard work he could not get any more acting offers and he decided to go abroad for higher education.