Andhra Student Killed In US Wanted To Settle There, Says His Uncle

Saiesh Veera, the 24-year-old Telugu student from Eluru in Andhra Pradesh who was shot dead by thieves in the United States on Thursday, wanted to settle down there and give his family a good life.

Veera's father, who used to teach economics at Eluru's C R Reddy college, passed away four years ago. Now, the death of the Master's student leaves behind his homemaker mother and an older brother, Venkatesh. Veera's uncle Narasimha Rao told the media, "My brother always had the ambition of sending both the sons or at least one of them to the US for higher studies." Mr Rao is the younger brother of Veera's father and lives in Palakollu.

He said the family took a bank loan to send their son to a foreign university after he completed an electrical engineering course at the same college where his father had worked. Mr Rao said Veera had completed his course in the US and in another 20 days he would have got a placement.

According to his uncle, Veera applied for a H-1B visa and exuded confidence that he would bag it. Anticipating these changes, he had also tendered his resignation at the fuel station where he was doing part-time work when he was tragically killed, said Rao.

Veera was planning to visit India at the end of May for a month and then return to the US, his uncle said. The last call from Veera had come during the past weekend, and as further telephonic conversations did not happen, the family members did not know where Veera had bagged a job and other details.

Besides academics, Mr Rao said, his nephew had been an excellent all-rounder in cricket, who used to actively participate in several local tournaments when he was at home and also in the US.

He said the family members had just seen a few news reports and photographs on his cricketing exploits in the US through some American media outlets.

Meanwhile, Eluru district collector V Prasanna Venkatesh called up Veera's family members and spoke to them, assuring help from the government to bring back his body. The local sub-divisional police officer, municipal commissioner and deputy collector too visited the victim's home while Eluru MLA Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas (Nani) also visited them and assured that they would extend all the help needed from the government to bring the body back as early as possible. 

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