One more Indian student found dead in US, other subjected to brutal assault

In a series of disturbing events the United States has witnessed yet another tragic incident involving Indian students A doctoral candidate Sameer Kamath was found dead at Purdue University in Indiana while in a separate incident Syed Mazahir Ali an IT student endured a brutal assault near his Chicago residenceThese occurrences mark the sixth such incident in the US in 2024 aloneSameer Kamath aged 23 and pursuing a doctoral degree in mechanical engineering was found deceased in Warren County Having previously earned his bachelors degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst Kamath had been enrolled at Purdue since 2021 and was slated to graduate in 2025 the mechanical engineering head Eckhard Groll announced on Tuesday newswire PTI reportedKamaths body was found at a nature preserve at Crows Grove the agency said quoting a press release from Justin Brummett the Warren County CoronerAfter his bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst Kamath had come to Purdue in the summer of 2021 Groll said in his email He was slated to graduate from the doctoral programme in 2025In another incident Indian IT student Syed Mazahir Ali was chased and brutally attacked by unidentified men near his house in the US city of Chicago on Sunday February 4There were videos posted on social media and in one video posted on X Ali can be seen with a bloodied nose and face and blood stains on his clothes as he describes his ordealAli who moved to the US from Hyderabad about six months ago told ABC7 Eyewitness News that one of the attackers pointed a gun at himVideo surveillance shows Ali walking to his home at night with a packet in his hand when the three men chase him when he was punched by the men in the eye and hit on the face ribs and back The ABC7 report said he was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for several cuts and bruisesAli is pursuing Masters in information technology from Indiana Wesleyan UniversityldquoAmerica has been my dream country and I came here to fulfil my dreams and pursue my Masters The incident gave me traumardquo he told the channelThe report said that the police do not have any suspect in custody and the investigation is ongoingThe Consulate General of India in Chicago said on X that the ldquoConsulate is in touch with Syed Mazahir Ali and his wife in India Syeda Ruquiya Fatima Razvi and assured all possible assistance The consulate has also contacted the local authorities who are investigating the caserdquoAlis wife Ruqiya Fatima reached out to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar requesting assistance to travel to the US along with three minor childrenLast week 19yearold Shreyas Reddy Beniger a student at the Lindner School of Business in Ohio State was found dead However local authorities have ruled out foul playAnother Indian student identified as Neel Acharya at Purdue University Indiana was confirmed dead days after being reported missing on January 28The incident comes just days after 25yearold Indian student Vivek Saini who had recently earned an MBA degree in the US was hammered to death by a homeless drug addict in Georgia states Lithonia city on January 16The horrifying incident was caught on camera when assailant Julian Faulkner a homeless man mercilessly struck Saini nearly 50 times on the head with a hammerAkul B Dhawan an 18yearold at the University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign was found dead last month with signs of hypothermia