Hyderabad (IANS) The body of Akshay Vishal, a techie who was shot dead in Arkansas last week, was flown in here Tuesday from the United States.The last rites of the 26-year-old were later performed at a crematorium here. Dozens of grieving relatives and friends attended the funeral.
Earlier, Akshay’s parents and other family members broke down on seeing his body. “I thank the employees of Satyam in the US who made the arrangements for sending his body,” Akshay’s father N. Lakshmana Murthy told reporters while crying inconsolably.
Akshay, a software engineer of scam-hit Satyam Computer Services, was shot dead by unidentified people in Little Rock in Arkansas on Jan 13. He was on contract with a US company Jet Falcon.
The techie was shot in the legs and he died due to excessive bleeding. Arkansas state police later arrested one Brandon Johnson, 20, on the suspicion that he killed Akshay. Robbery is suspected to be the motive behind the killing.
Murthy, an employee of state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), said the Arkansas police had not informed them either about the arrest of the suspect or the motive behind the murder.
Leaders of the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also called on the parents of Akshay to convey their condolences. BJP state president Bandaru Dattatreya voiced his concern over the series of killings of Andhra students and professionals in the US and demanded that the government of India take up the issue with US authorities to ensure their safety.
Akshay, who was holding MS degree from Alaska University, had gone to US four years ago.
His murder is the seventh case of students and professional from Andhra Pradesh being killed in the US during last 13 months.
Arpana B. Jinaga, 24, a software engineer in EMC Corporation in Seattle, was found murdered in her apartment Nov 3.
Shashank Pulluru, studying MS at the Middle Tennessee State University, was shot and injured by some African Americans in Tennessee Nov 15 last year.
T. Soumya Reddy, 23, pursuing MS in electrical engineering at the Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville campus, was found dead in a car near a lake in Chicago in September. Her cousin Vikram Reddy, 27, who was a software engineer in Chicago, was also found shot dead nearby.
Srinivas, a PG medical student from Karimnagar, was found murdered in Pennsylvania in March.
A. Kirankumar and K Chandrasekhar Reddy, both PhD students, were shot dead by intruders in their apartment at Louisiana University in December 2007.
