'Shooting of Indian student in Boston not hate crime'

New York, Apr 23: A 24-year-old Indian student, who was found dead near the Boston University campus, was not a victim of hate crime and his killing appears to be an isolated incident, a prominent Indian-American organisation has said.

Odisha native K Seshadri Rao, a student at Boston University's Graduate School of Management, was shot in the head and leg in the early hours of April 19.

He was pronounced dead on the scene by Boston police.

Telugu Association of North America executive vice- president Mohan Nannapaneni said Rao's killing was not a hate crime, as is being speculated in some sections of the media.

"It is absolutely not a hate crime. It is an isolated incident. We do not yet know who did it and why but it is definitely not a hate or targetted crime," Nannapaneni told PTI over the phone from Boston.

The police has some good leads in the case and any speculation about the cause of the shooting could jeopardise the investigation, he said.

No arrests have yet been made in the case.

Nannapaneni said students from across the world come to study at Boston University and he has not heard of any incident where a student has been targetted because of his race.

He termed as false and incorrect some reports that said Rao was "dragged" from his apartment and shot because of his race.

Nannapaneni said he had spoken to Rao's roommates who denied that the young student was dragged from his rented house or that they were under attack because of their Indian background.

PTI