Another Indian student dies in the US: Are rising cases a cause for worry?

Another Indian student’s mysterious death in the United States has grabbed eyeballs. According to the Indian consulate in New York, the student, identified as Uma Satya Sai Gadde, passed away in Cleveland, Ohio.

The consulate wrote in a post on X that a police probe is underway into the untimely demise. “Deeply saddened by the unfortunate demise of Uma Satya Sai Gadde, an Indian student in Cleveland, Ohio.”

It said it is in contact with Gadde’s family in India. “All possible assistance is being extended, including to transport Uma Gadde’s mortal remains to India at the earliest,” the consulate added.

As per reports, this is the 10th such incident in the US involving Indian or Indian-origin students.

Let’s take a closer look.

Recent incidents involving students 

In March, Abhijeeth Paruchuru, a 20-year-old from Burripalem, Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, was found dead in a car deep within a forest in US’ Boston. The Indian consulate said at the time that police had ruled out any foul play in his death.

The same month, Amarnath Ghosh , a 34-year-old trained classical dancer from India, was shot dead in St Louis, Missouri. He was pursuing his PhD at Washington University.

The family of 25-year-old Mohammed Abdul Arafat, who hailed from Telangana’s Hyderabad, sought the assistance of the External Affairs Ministry in March after he reportedly went missing from the Cleveland area. His family had got a ransom call days after he went missing in the US.

On 5 February, Sameer Kamath, a 23-year-old Indian-American student at Purdue University, was found dead in a nature preserve in Indiana.

Vivek Saini, an MBA student in Georgia, was violently killed by a homeless drug addict at a convenience store. The incident took place on 16 January when the 25-year-old, who had previously helped Julian Faulkner, reportedly refused to give the man free food, resulting in the latter killing him with a hammer.

Syed Mazahir Ali, an Indian-origin student, was brutally attacked in Chicago earlier this year.

The same month, two Indian students, Gattu Dinesh (22) and Nikesh (21), “died in sleep” at their residence in Connecticut. The roommates, who were pursuing master’s in computer science, were reported to have passed away from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning.

The deaths of Shreyas Reddy Benigeri, Akul Dhawan and Neel Acharya in separate incidents in the US this year have also raised concerns.

What has been done to address this?

After a spate of attacks on Indian and Indian-origin students in the US , the White House said in February that President Joe Biden and his administration were working “very, very hard” to prevent and disrupt such incidents.

John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House said at the time, “There is no excuse for violence, certainly based on race or gender or religion or any other factor. That’s just unacceptable here in the United States”, reported PTI.

“The president and this administration have been working very, very hard to make sure we’re doing everything we can to work with state and local authorities to try to thwart and disrupt those kinds of attacks and make it clear to anybody who might consider them that they’ll be held properly accountable,” he had said.

Following these tragic incidents, the Indian Embassy officials in Washington and its various consulates virtually interacted with Indian students from across the US.

Around 150 Indian Student Association office bearers and students from 90 universities in the US took part in the interaction led by Charge d’Affaires Ambassador Sripriya Ranganathan, as per PTI. 

It was also attended by the Consul Generals of India in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Seattle. They discussed different aspects of student well-being and how to stay connected with the larger diaspora.

With inputs from agencies