Mortal remains of Hyderabad student found dead in US brought home

Hailing from Nacharam in Hyderabad he went to the US in May last year to pursue a Master’s degree in IT from Cleveland University. The victim had not been in touch with his family in Hyderabad since 7 March following which a missing person complaint was lodged.

Also Read: Missing Hyderabad student found dead in the US

A ransom call

However, on 19 March, Abdul’s family received a call from an unidentified person, who claimed that Abdul had been kidnapped allegedly by a gang selling drugs and demanded $1,200 to “release” him.

The caller also threatened to sell Abdul’s kidneys if the ransom wasn’t paid, his father said.

“I got a call from an unknown number, and the caller informed me that my son had been kidnapped and demanded money. The caller did not mention the mode of payment but just asked to pay the amount. When I asked the caller to allow us to talk to my son, he refused,” Saleem told PTI in Hyderabad last month.

In a post on X on 9 April, the Consulate General of India in New York expressed condolences to the family, and promised to extended all possible assistance to the bereaved family to transport his mortal remains to India.

Also Read: Hyderabad student goes ‘missing’ in the US; family receives ‘ransom’ call

Previous instances

The incident is the latest in a string of troubling cases on the safety and security of Indian students in the US.

Last week, an Indian student in Ohio, Uma Satya Sai Gadde, died and police are investigating the case.

In March, a 34-year-old trained classical dancer from India, Amarnath Ghosh, was shot dead in St Louis, Missouri.

Last month, the Consulate posted on X about the death of Abhijeeth Paruchuru, a 20-year-old Indian student in Boston. Paruchuru’s parents, based in Connecticut, had been in direct touch with detectives and initial investigations into his death had ruled out foul play.

Sameer Kamath, a 23-year-old Indian-American student at Purdue University, was found dead in a nature preserve in Indiana on 5 February.

On 2 February, Vivek Taneja, a 41-year-old Indian-origin IT executive, suffered life-threatening injuries in an assault outside a restaurant in Washington.

In January, 18-year-old Akul Dhawan, a University of Illinois student was found unresponsive outside a campus building. Investigations revealed that he died due to hypothermia, with authorities ruling that acute alcohol intoxication and prolonged exposure to extremely cold temperatures significantly contributed to his death.

In another tragedy that month, 25-year-old Indian student Vivek Saini was hammered to death by a homeless drug addict in Georgia.

Also Read: Indian Consulate in NY working with US authorities to find missing Hyderabad student

(Edited by Majnu Babu)