The body of Indian techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was shot dead in the US last week in a suspected hate crime, was flown in here Monday night.
The body was brought by a cargo flight, which arrived at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport around 10 p.m.
Kuchibhotla's parents K. Madhusudhana Sastry and Parvata Vardhini and other family members received the body. After completing all formalities, the body was carried in an ambulance to his house at Bachupally on the city outskirts.
Kuchibhotla's wife Sunayana Dumala, her brother, sister-in-law and another relative reached the city by a passenger flight.
Before Srinivas Kuchibhotla's death in a possible hate crime, his family warned him about the dangers of remaining in the United States.
His wife was unsure whether they should stay, even as they planned to start a family in Kansas. "I told him many times we should think about going back (to India)," Sunayana Dumala said at a news conference Friday.
And yet, Dumala said, Kuchibhotla was not fearful. He refused to abandon "the country he loved."
"He always assured me good things will happen to good people," she said, speaking briefly and between deep breaths, two days after his death.
Police say Adam W. Purinton, 51, opened fire Wednesday night on Kuchibhotla and another Indian man drinking with him at Austins Bar and Grill in Olathe, a Kansas City, Kansas, suburb - killing Kuchibhotla, wounding his friend and a third patron who tried to help.
Witnesses reported that Purinton shouted racial slurs and told the two men to "get out of my country." He was arrested at a bar in Missouri, where the bartender told police Purinton claimed to have killed two Middle Eastern men, according to the Kansas City Star. The FBI is investigating whether to add hate-crime charges to his counts of murder and attempted murder.
"I was told that guy very proudly went to another bar and said he shot two Muslim guys," Dumala said.
Although she spoke with some difficulty, she made clear to reporters that Purinton didn't know the first thing about her husband.
Kuchibhotla came to the United States more than a decade ago from Hyderabad, India, to become an American engineer.
The Kansas City Star reported that Kuchibhotla encouraged a brother to immigrate, too. He met Dumala while studying for his master's degree in Texas.
Telangan Transport Minister Mahender Reddy and some leaders of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) were also present at the airport to receive the body.
The Ministry of External Affairs has made arrangements to bring the mortal remains.
Police had made elaborate security arrangements at the airport and media persons were barred from the cargo terminal.
The last rites will be performed Tuesday at Jubliee Hills, family members said.
Kuchibhotla, 32, was killed and Alok Madasani was injured when Adam W. Purinton, a white man who earlier served in the US Navy, shot them at the Austins Bar & Grill in Olathe, Kansas state, on Wednesday night.
Purinton reportedly got into an argument with the victims and hurled racial slurs. He yelled "get out of my country", "terrorist" before shooting them.
Kuchibhotla of Hyderabad and his colleague Madasani from Warangal district in Telangana were working as aviation programme managers at Garmin, an MNC.
