An Indian-American doctor has been shot dead under mysterious circumstances in his car in the US state of Michigan, at Detroit on Thursday night.
The victim has been identified as Dr Ramesh Kumar (32), who hailed from Chettikulangara near Mavelikara, Kerala. Ramesh was the the younger son of Dr Narendra R Kumar, former president of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin(AAPI) and the Association of Kerala Medical Graduates, and also the recipient of Pravasi Bharathiya Samman.
On Thursday night, the body of Ramesh Kumar was found in the passenger seat of his car. Ramesh was a doctor in the Urology department of Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.
The incident came to light after Ramesh did not show up for work at the hospital. Dr Mani Menon, chief of the department, called his father to inquire about his absence. Narendra made several phone calls and text messages to his son but there was no response. He alerted the police, who after a search, found the body in the car parked at a rest area on the highway in Detroit.
The police however, could not establish the motive for the killing but his relatives have ruled out any racial reasons or hate crime.
Narendra Kumar, said “We do not know (the reason for his murder). They (The police) are yet to find out.” “We do not suspect anything. We do not think, it was a hate crime.”
The police have refrained from making any comments about the incident.
Ramesh was a medical graduate from the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi. The victim’s postmortem has been completed and the funeral will be held on Monday. Ramesh is survived by mother Meenakshi and sister Saradha. Narendra Kumar and his family are residents of East Grove Court, Freeland, Michigan.
There has been a surge in hate crimes against the Hindu and Sikh communities in the US after Donald Trump became the President of the country.
Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla was killed when a US Navy veteran Adam Purinton opened fire at him and his friend Alok Madasani before yelling “get out of my country” in February.
In Florida, an Indian-American family’s store was almost burnt to the ground and many more have been harassed and threatened.
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