Indian Embassy in US talks with students after Abhijit's death

Vijayawada: The Indian Embassy in Washington on Monday conducted a virtual interaction with Indian students following a series of attacks on Indians and Indian origin persons/students, in the USA in recent times.

Nearly 150 office-bearers and Indian Student Association members from 90 US universities took part in the interaction led by Charge d’affaires, Ambassador Shripriya Ranganathan. Moreover, the Consul Generals of India in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Seattle attended it.

It may be mentioned that, an Indian student in Boston, identified as Parchuri Abhijit, 20, died in a tragic incident recently and the initial investigation ruled out any foul play.

His parents based in Connecticut are in direct touch with the detectives, according to a post on X by the Consulate General of India in New York. His body was cremated in his native village of Burripalem in Guntur district on March 16.

Sources said that since beginning of 2024, at least half-a-dozen deaths of students hailing from India or Indian origin were reported and the alarming rise in the number of attacks had also become a cause of concern among the community.

In March, Amarnath Ghosh, 34, a trained classical dancer from India and a student of Washington University was shot dead in Missouri. Sameer Kamath, 23, an Indian American student at Purdue University was found dead at nature preserve in Indiana on Feb. 5.

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

A week before, Syed Mazahir Ali, an Indian student was attacked by robbers in Chicago. Earlier, an Indian student, Vivek Saini, 25, was fatally attacked in Georgia State’s Lithonia city by a homeless drug addict.

In January, Shreyas Reddy Beniger, 19, a student at Linder School of Business in Ohio State was found dead. Another Indian student Neel Acharya at Purdue University, Indiana was found dead days after he went missing on Jan. 28.

An 18-year-old Akul B. Dhawan, studying at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was found dead with signs of hypothermia in February.