Police arrest killer of Telangana student in California

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The alleged killer of a student from Telangana Vamsi Reddy Mamidala, 24, who was dead on Saturday night in San Francisco, California, has been arrested by police, according to India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

“I have got report from our Consulate in San Francisco. The report says Vamshi was killed by a drug addict on Friday evening at Milpitas,” Swaraj tweeted. “The culprit has been arrested,” she stated, adding that the Consulate was in touch with the victim’s family and assuring all help.

(Editor’s note: There have been conflicting reports of the victim’s name. News India Times earlier reported his name as Vamsi. Swaraj’s tweet has it as Vamshi).

Mamidala, from Warangal district, was doing MS at a university in California, and was also working in a store. He was attacked and killed by a White man who reportedly tried to rob him too.

The Hindu reported police officials from the US called up the family in Warangal and informed about their son’s killing, over the weekend.

Distraught over son’s death, Vamsi Reddy’s father Mamidala Mohan Reddy, a farmer, told New Indian Express, “He spoke to me two days ago. He was very worried about his future as the new government in the US is imposing restrictions on the hiring of foreign nationals in the IT sector. I asked him not to worry about getting a job and asked him to come back to India. But he was gone within two days.”

Mamidala went to the US in 2014 after completing a B.Tech degree in Vathsalya Institute of Science & Technology (VIST) located at Bhongir in Nalgonda.

The Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana Kadiam Srihari had on Sunday expressed shock at the killing of Vamsi and said the state government would initiate process to get the body of the deceased back home at the earliest.