Visakhapatnam: Not just in India and the US, the murder of Telugu techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla has spurred massive interest among netizens across the world, with the reports trending top in several countries.
A cursory look at the “Google Trends” explains how the incident drew substantial searches from March 23. After India and the US, internet giant Google saw a surge in searches over the Olathe bar shooting from Singapore, the UAE, Qatar, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Sweden, the Netherlands etc. Back home, apart from the two Telugu states, the news drew more eyeballs in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Kerala.
The popular set of search terms includes ‘Srinivas Kuchibhotla LinkedIn’, ‘Srinivas Kuchibhotla Garmin’, ‘Srinivas Kuchibhotla Facebook’, ‘Alok Madasani’, ‘Sriniva-s Kuchibhotla GoFundMe’, ‘Sunayana Dumala’, ‘Adam Purinton’, ‘Ian Grillot’ etc.
Social media platforms have also become an ideal stage for netizens to explain how things were unfolding in the US after President Trump took office in the context of Srinivas’ murder. Some netizens were seen expressing their condolence to the family of Srinivas, venting their anger at Donald Trump.
"@realDonaldTrump, Why haven't you spoken out against the shooting/murder in Kansas by one of your supporters? Blood is on your hands!" posted a twitter user. "Appalled and saddened by the murder of two Indian engineers in Kansas. Condolences to their families. #ThisMustStop," read another Twitter post.
The netizens have also started unlocking the maximum potential of the internet by setting up four fundraising pages on the GoFundMe for the bereaved families of the victims. As on Sunday evening, the ‘’Srinu's Family/Recovery Supports" page on GoFundMe had raised $6,04,931.
The Madasani/Kuchibhotla Relief Fund had received donations of $87,537. Another two pages had raised about $3,81,000. Altogether, 28,630 netizens have contributed more than $1 million in combined donations for the victims and their families.
