- Saturday, July 27, 2024
Sameer Kamath is the second Indian-origin student to die at Purdue University this year. A few days ago, Neel Acharya was found lifeless on the campus after his mother filed a missing complaint.
By: Shubham Ghosh
DEATHS of Indian-origin students in the US continued as Sameer Kamath, a doctoral candidate at Purdue University in Indiana, was found dead at a nature reserve on Monday evening, the coroner’s office in the state said in a statement.
This is the fifth incident where an Indian-origin student has been found dead in the US.
Kamath, 23, had completed his master’s degree in mechanical engineering last August and held a US citizenship, the statement said. He was set to complete his doctorate next year.
Officials said a forensic autopsy would be conducted on Wednesday (7).
Professor Eckhard Groll, head of mechanical engineering at Purdue announced the news in a mail in which he said Kamath was from Massachusetts where he completed his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.
Kamath is the second Indian-origin student to die at Purdue University this year. A few days ago, Neel Acharya was found lifeless on the campus after his mother filed a missing complaint.
In 2022, another Indian-origin student at Purdue called Varun Manish Chheda was killed by a 22-year-old Korean student who was arrested on murder charges.
The deaths of Chheda and Acharya left the Indian student community shocked and students sought tight safety on campuses.
Last week, a 19-year-old student named Shreyas Reddy Benigeri was found dead in Ohio and authorities ruled out possibilities of hate crime.
In January, a student from the Indian state of Haryana named Vivek Saini was brutally killed by a homeless, drug addict man who he had helped with food and clothes. The incident happened in Lithonia in the state of Georgia.
The series of deaths of Indian-origin students have drawn attention to the challenges faced by the large Indian student community in the US, numbering more than 300,000. While mental stress, loneliness, and exposure to substance abuse are cited as reasons leading to such consequences, experts are also emphasising the need for greater awareness and support systems to address the international students’ mental health concerns.
