In the latest in the series of murders of Indians in the US, a woman techie and her son were killed in New Jersey on Thursday.
The deceased, 40-year-old N Sasikala (40) and her son Anish Sai (7), who hail from the Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh, were found dead in their home.
According to the family, Sasikala’s husband N Hanumantha Rao found the bodies when he returned home from work on Thursday evening. "When he opened the house he couldn't find his wife and son, and he called Anish, his son. When he went to open the bedroom he found those people, like dead - and blood everywhere," Mohan Nannapaneni, a friend told ABC news. Various media houses from New Jersey reported that the mother and son were found with multiple stab wounds. They lived in a unit of the 'Fox Meadow' apartment. The Burlington County office in a statement denied that there was any indication of a hate crime at this stage, and rejected reports suggesting the same.
Y Sambasiva Rao, a member of Andhra Pradesh state legislative assembly from Prakasam district, spoke to representatives of the Telugu Association of North America (TANA) over the phone about the incident.
He said that Sasikala and her son had been strangulated to death. However, Sasikala's parents told ANI that they believed their daughter was killed over a domestic dispute. More details are awaited.
While Hanumantha and Sasikala were both software professionals, the latter used to work from home. The couple had been living in the US for nine years.
State Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu tweeted about the incident saying he was “pained” to hear about the killings.
Pained to hear about the killing of Sasikala & son Sai in New Jersey, US. My condolences to the family members.
— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) March 24, 2017
Telugu Desam Party General Secretary Nara Lokesh tweeted,
Saddened to learn about the killing of Sasikala and her son in New Jersey, US. Strongly condemn such acts of violence.
— Lokesh Nara (@naralokesh) March 24, 2017
Meanwhile, a pall of gloom has descended in the remote village of Thimarajupalem from where the family hails.
There have been a spate of incidents involving the death of Indians hailing from Andhra and Telangana in the recent past.
On February 23, a Hyderabad engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla, (32), was killed when Adam W Purinton, who earlier served in the US Navy, shot him in Kansas.
Before Srinivas’ death, Vamshi Reddy Mamidala, also from Telangana, was shot dead in California.
Vamshi was shot on February 10 in a garage in his apartment building.
With IANS inputs