Published Jun 08, 2026 | 10:12 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 08, 2026 | 10:31 PM
Why was Anshul Kuncha killed? His sister insists it was "no random crime.
Synopsis: Three days after Anshul Kuncha was murdered, his sister told the media that it was no random crime. It was ironic that a joyful person who never hurt even a fly met with this fate, Tanvi Kuncha said.
The sister of a 28-year-old from Telangana, murdered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 5, has claimed that he was a victim of a “death trap designed to take his life”.
An emotional Tanvi Kuncha implored parents “not to send their children to America.”
“My brother never really wanted to go to America. We persuaded him to go because we believed it would give him a better future. Today, we are left with nothing but grief,” she said, days after Anshul Kuncha was shot dead.
Tanvi said that Anshul, a B Tech graduate from Hyderabad’s Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, had gone to the US to pursue his Master’s in Business Analytics. He had completed the degree from Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business in March 2024.
Anshul had found full-time employment as a Data Validation Analyst with DataBank IMX, a Japanese MNC there. Pizza delivery was only a part-time gig for him, Tanvi clarified.
“This was not a random crime. My brother was sent to deliver a pizza to a decoy apartment, a vacant house, where nobody was waiting for him. It was a trap,” Tanvi insisted.
She said that her brother had been lured with the order.
The grieving family said no cash, valuables or personal belongings were stolen, and this made them suspect that a premeditated motive was at work.
“We still do not know what they gained from killing him or why they targeted him. All we know is that we have lost a loving brother and son forever,” Tanvi told media persons.
It was while Anshul was leaving after realising that there was no one to deliver the pizza to that the unidentified assailants opened fire. They fatally “shot him in his head from behind” at the Raymond Rosen Homes housing complex on Edgley Street in North Philadelphia before making good their escape.
Anshul was taken to Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, where he was pronounced dead “before 1 am local time”, according to reports.
Police are trying to learn more about the phone number used to place the order and are also tracking other clues.
Many in the Indian community in the US expressed their outrage.
Tanvi said that the only request she wanted to make to the External Affairs Ministry was to help her get her brother’s body back “as soon as possible because initially they told our family that his body would arrive here by Monday or Tuesday. But now they are saying it could be Thursday or Friday.”
“My brother was a joyful, happy person who would never even hurt a fly. The irony that this happened to him is really upsetting,” Tanvi said.
