HOUSTON: The wife of Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was shot dead in an apparent hate crime by a Navy veteran at a bar in Olathe city, has said that she had her doubts about staying in the US but was assured by her husband that “good things happen in America”.Speaking at a news conference organised by GPS-maker Garmin where Srinivas worked, Sunayana Dumala said reports of bias in the US make minorities afraid as she questioned “do we belong here”.She said she now wonders what will the US government do to stop hate crimes against minorities.

Dumala said she was concerned about shootings incidents in America and had doubted whether they should stay in the country, but her husband said that assured her saying that “good things happen in America.”Consul General of India in Houston Anupam Ray is supervising the current situation and providing all possible help for the grieving family and the community in Olathe area of Kansas.”Immediately when the incident occurred, Consulate rushed Deputy Consul R D Joshi and Vice Consul H Singh to Kansas to be with the family of Srinivas at this trying moment,” Ray told PTI.

Ever since, they have been with the family of Srinivas and have assured Sunayna of all possible support and help at this grieving moment, he said.Consul Joshi also met the shocked and frightened Indian community in Olathe and Alok Madasani injured in the shooting on Wednesday night.Madasani is now stable and has been discharged from the hospital.A third person, an American man identified as Ian Grillot, 24, who tried to intervene also received injuries in the firing at Austins Bar and Grill in Olathe in Kansas City in the US state of Missouri.

A University of Kansas Hospital spokeswoman said he is in fair condition.The incident evoked outrage from in the US and India with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj expressing shock over the incident.”I am shocked at the shooting incident in Kansas in which Srinivas Kuchibhotla has been killed. My heartfelt condolences to bereaved family,” she said in a tweet yesterday.The shooter, Adam Purinton, reportedly got into an argument with the victims in the terms of racism, and shouted “get out of my country”, “terrorist” before shooting them.

He reportedly provoked them into an argument asking about their presence and work in his country, and how they are better than him.According to police, Purinton left the bar after the argument and then returned with a gun and shot the three men.He was arrested on Thursday, five hours after the incident and charged with one count of premeditated first-degree murder and two counts of attempted premeditated first-degree murder in Johnson County, Kansas, District Attorney Stephen Howe told reporters.Howe, however, declined to elaborate on the motive of the incident, although local police said they were working with the FBI to investigate the case.

The FBI was looking at whether it was a hate crime.

An FBI spokesperson said agents and police canvassed the area on Thursday and the investigation continued yesterday.Some eye-witnesses have said the attack was racially motivated.One bystander told the Kansas City Star that the gunman shouted “get out of my country” before shooting the Indian victims.Grillot said in a recorded interview on Thursday that the bullet went through his right hand and into his chest, just missing a major artery but fracturing a vertebra in his neck

The shooting incident comes at a time when hate crimes and acts of bigotry have risen notably in America after President Donald Trump came to power.According to Garmin, Kuchibhotla and Madasani worked in the company’s aviation systems.”Unfortunately, two associates on our Aviation Systems Engineering team, Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani, were shot. We are devastated to inform you that Srinivas passed away and Alok is currently recovering in the hospital,” Garmin said.

Kuchibhotla and Madasani hailed from Hyderabad and Warangal respectively.Kuchibhotla posted on LinkedIn in 2014 that he managed helicopter programmes. He had a master’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the University of Texas at El Paso. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in Hyderabad.

A 2014 post on LinkedIn said Madasani was an aviation programme coordinator manager at Garmin.

Beleaguered Sasikala, who is convicted in disproportionate assets case and serving sentence in Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara jail, seems to have got yet another major shocker. Sasikala’s trusted lieutenant and considered her proxy E Palaniswamy, the CM of Tamil Nadu, seems to be disowning Chinnamma. Apparently, EPS has ordered for the reshuffle of IAS and IPS officers that were not approved by Sasikala. AIADMK’s deputy general secretary and Sasikala’s relative TTV Dinakaran met his aunt Sasikala at Bengaluru central prison on Monday, and he reportedly got the list of transfers cleared by her. The list was said to be prepared by the members close to Sasikala’s family.

According to reports, Sasikala-approved list of transfers of bureaucrats was sent to CM Palaniswamy but the CM said to have refused to accept Sasikala’ list. This is now seen as a set back to Sasikala who is already battling with several others. Palaniswamy reportedly turned down her list and said to have issued his own list thus to make his own mark in the government.

This is not all. After winning the trust vote in the Assembly, EPS set a new precedent by not visiting the Bengaluru’s central prison. Apparently, Sasikala-approved reshuffle list mentioned that chief secretary Girija Vaidyanathan will be replaced with the present Finance Secretary K Shanmugam who’s also good officer. But CM Palaniswamy apparently said no to move as Girija’s removal may further defame the government. This is not all. EPS is reportedly got a strong feedback from the ground zero over Sasikala’s episode and hence he’s distancing away from her.

Also, the fact that the local body elections would be held on May 14, EPS is acting swiftly to win people. Is Palaniswamy rebelling against Chinnamma Sasikala?

Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is well known for playing mind games with his opponents.

Now it looks like his protégé and Telangana Joint Action Committee chairman Prof M Kodandaram has mastered the same art which he has learnt from his political master.

Ever since Kodandaram raised a banner of revolt against KCR and his government, the TRS leaders have launched a tirade on him, dubbing him as Telangana betrayer and a political opportunist.

They even claimed that without KCR, there was no Kodandaram during the Telangana movement and had no identity among the people. They described him as a dog walking under the shadow of a bullock cart and getting the feeling that it was actually driving the cart.

Thus, the TRS leadership started playing mind game with Kodandaram by putting pressure on him and splitting the TJAC. However, Kodandaram is not yielding to any psychological pressures. On the other hand, the TJAC chairman himself has started playing the mind game.

His followers have released a video clipping of KCR lavishing praises on Kodandaram during one of the meetings during the Telangana movement.

The video clipping shows KCR describing Kodandaram as a “lump of gold” and “a representative of the aspirations of four crore Telangana people.”

“The professor has sacrificed everything for the Telangana movement. If anybody criticises him, I will slash his tongue,” KCR warned then.

Now, Kodandaram’s followers wonder whether KCR will slash the tongues of critics within the TRS, since he continued to remain the champion of Telangana people!

It is now more or less certain that badminton super star and silver medallist at Rio Olympics P V Sindhu is going to settle down as Andhra ammayi, rather than a Hyderabadi youth icon.

According to media reports, Sindhu is learnt to have accepted the offer given by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for a Group-I officer post in his government.

The offer was made soon after Sindhu won the Olympics medal, but she gave her consent during her recent visit to Amaravati participate in the National Women’s Conference.

The reports said the government is working out the formalities to give the appointment order to Sindhu. Most probably, she would be given the Deputy Collector rank post and if she really takes the job seriously, she can as well become an IAS officer in six or seven years.

At present, she is working in the central public sector oil company Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) as deputy manager (sports).

It clearly shows that Sindhu is feeling more comfortable to be called an Andhra girl, rather than Telangana girl, though her father Ramana was a volleyball player from Adilabad.

She will concentrate on the game for the time being and after a few years, she would settle down in Amaravati, where Naidu has given her 1,000 square yards of land, besides cash prize of Rs 3 crore.

YSR Congress party MLA R K Roja is one leader who doesn’t beat a retreat despite attack on her from her rivals from all sides. She has once again proved that she is a brave politician among all her party MLAs.

On Friday, Roja shot back at the Andhra Pradesh police officers’ association for demanding an apology from her for attacking the police who stopper her from attending the National Women’s Parliament at Amaravati recently.

She told media on Tirumala that she had criticised Director General of Police N Sambasiva Rao for acting on the behest of TDP president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

She reiterated the allegations that she was ‘kidnapped’ by police from Gannavaram airport to prevent her from attending the event despite getting invited.

“Why should I apologise to the police? In fact the DGP himself should tender an apology for insulting me. The association leaders should first make an introspection as to how the cops are being treated at the CM’s residence and office. I will be on the forefront to support them, if they fight for their just rights, instead of attacking a woman legislator,” Roja said.

A team of three Telugu kids (aged below 10) have made India proud in United States as they have been selected to the 2017 VEX Robotics world championship, to be held between 23-25 April in Kentucky, America. The program will assist kids about team work, problem solving and engineering.

Out of 200 groups, competed from Arizona state, a total of 32 teams were shortlisted for preliminary phase and only 5 teams (7811 members) were qualified to be part of final competition.

The finalists from Arizona state include the very talented 7-year old Susmith (son of Ongole based Sathish and Padma), 5 year old Ronith (son of Hyderabad based Srikanth and Bhargavi) and Sunaina (daughter of Amara Srikanth and Pavani).

Madhavi and Sunil Jilla, Professors from Amsterdam Academy are mentoring these children in designing and building an ideal Robot model. So, let’s hope these children score success in finals and bring more laurels to our nation.

A GoFundMe page that was created to financially help the family of Hyderabad-based engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla who was killed in Kansas the other night, has reportedly raised over USD250K.

We have already reported that Srinivas became a victim of the racial attack by an intoxicated American on Wednesday night. GoFundMe page was created with the aim of raising $150K to help Srinivas’s family and also send his remains back to India. The generosity of people however raised funds in excess of USD250K in less than 12 hours, all of which will be given to Srinivas’s family.

A BTech graduate from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Kuchibhotla was working as a Systems Engineer at GPS-Garmin firm. He is survived by his wife, Sunayana, who is working in an IT company in the US.

External Affair Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted saying she was shocked at the incident and added that necessary assistance would be provided to Kuchibhotla’s family.

Kuchibhotla’s colleague Alok, who was injured in the shooting, has reportedly been discharged from the hospital.

Two GoFundMe pages have been set up to help the victims. One page redirects to help Srinivas Kuchubhotla’s family with the funeral expenses and other ongoing grief support costs.

While the family of Hyderabad engineer Srinivas Kanchibotla, who was shot by an American in Kansas, US, is suffering his loss, we should not miss to know about heroic efforts of Ion Grillot, who actually tried to save him from the shooter Adam Purinton (51).

In the process of stopping the Adam, Ian was also injured as he was shot in hand, chest and is in no-danger condition now.

As reported earlier, Srinivas and his friend Alok Madisani were gun shot by Adam at a bar in Olathe, Kansas. Soon after shouting racial slurs against both the Indians, the 51-year old shooter took out his gun and started to fire at Srinivas. After striking 9 bullets at his hand, chest and neck, the brave Ian thought the magazine was finished and jumped over the gunman to stop him.

Luckily, in the attacks, Alok survived with some minor injures and he, along with his wife who is 5-month old pregnant, visited Ian at hospital and enquired about his condition, besides thanking & appreciating his fearless attempt.

The just 24 Ian Grillot, who was admitted in KU hospital soon after the attack, says, ‘I’m very grateful that one of the gentlemen is fine and alive’ and adds further, ‘I was just doing what anyone should have done. It’s not about where he’s from, or ethnicity. We’re all humans.” – that’s a heartwarming statement from him. Isn’t it?

After a record number of match wins in Test format, World’s No.1 team India has registered a bad record during the first test against Australia today. While playing its first innings today, team India had a terrible fall out for 105 runs and tottering phase of last seven wickets established India’s worst performance in the recent past.

In an extremely shocking way, India lost 7 batsmen in the last 11 runs – making it one of the most bad records registered in world cricket. In 1989, after almost 27 years, Kohli-led Indian team literally broke its previous worst record – 7 wickets in matter of 18 runs.

After losing fourth wicket after 94 runs, Indian audience definitely unintended that out batsmen would collapse in next 11 runs. Having started first innings on a positive note on Friday, India team totally lost way before tea break – in just 40.1 overs.

Aussie bowler Steve O’Keefe gave a big shock to home team, by dismissing three batsmen in 33rd over of the innings – KL Rahul (64), Rahane (13) and Saha (0). By the end of first innings, Steve picked 6 wickets and all at crucial time. On other hand, Mitchell Starc supported him with two wickets, Hazlewood with one wicket and Nathan Lyon with one.

It now remains to be seen how the next three days are going to be for team India.