Kansas shooting: Teary farewell to slain techie

Hyderabad: Amid heart-rending scenes, the mortal remains of engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was shot dead in the US in an apparent hate crime incident, were consigned to flames here Tuesday.

Kuchibhotla’s father Madhusudana Rao lit the funeral pyre at the crematorium in Jubilee Hills in the afternoon. The parents of the 32-year-old engineer were in sorrow over the tragedy that has struck them.

Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, several other leaders, family members and friends of Kuchibhotla were present.

As the pyre was lit, some of those present at the crematorium raised slogans in memory of Kuchibhotla and against the US administration. The body was earlier taken to the crematorium from his house at Bachupally on the city’s outskirts.

It was a picture of sadness and grief at the house, where a pall of gloom had descended, as Kuchibhotla’s wife Sunayana took part in the last minute rituals. His parents and other family members too looked crest-fallen. Kuchibhotla had been working at Garmin headquarters in Olathe in Kansas City. Another Indian and his colleague Alok Madasani was injured in the incident that took place last Wednesday.

Kuchibhotla’s mother Parvatha Vardhini was inconsolable on seeing her son’s body which arrived in Hyderabad late on Monday night and brought to his parents’ residence at Bachupalli on the city outskirts. A teacher of Kuchibhotla recalled him as a simple and good-natured person who always had a positive outlook towards life. The engineer’s body was brought to his parents’ house shortly before midnight Monday after being flown from the US to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here.

Ministers from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, MLAs and other leaders belonging to different political parties visited his house here after the shooting incident.

Union ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu and Bandaru Dattatreya had earlier visited the family. The shooting incident had taken place at Austins Bar and Grill in Olathe in Kansas City in the US state of Missouri.

Ian Grillot, an American, was injured when he tried to tackle the accused Adam Purinton, 51, who was arrested Thursday morning, five hours after the incident. Mr Purinton, a US Navy veteran, reportedly yelled “get out of my country” before opening fire on Kuchibhotla and Mr Madasani.