Hate crime: Mourning Indian family blames Donald Trump for murder of Srinivas

The family of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was killed in the US, has blamed the Donald Trump administration for the horrific incident.

Hyderabad, Feb 25: In a television interview on Friday evening, brother of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was shot dead in Kansas, US, blamed President Donald Trump for spreading hatred against immigrants, Muslims and non-whites which resulted in the horrific incident.

"There is a rise in hate crime since Trump became the President," KP Shastri, brother of Srinivas (32), told NDTV. Recalling his brother's conversation with their father, Shastri added, "Srinivas would chat about Trump win, he said he was a bit worried."

On Wednesday evening, Adam W Purinton shot and killed Srinivas in a bar in Kansas. In the same incident, Adam also injured Srinivas' friend Alok Madasani (32) and an American Ian Grillot (24), who came to rescue two Indian-origin men.

Both Srinivas and Alok worked as techies in an American firm. They both are from Telangana. The family of Srinivas--based in Hyderabad--is currently mourning and is waiting for his dead body to arrive home to conduct his last rites.

Speaking to ANI, Shastri said, "This is the first time it happened to our family. Trump is the primary reason as of now." "A racist person said 'get out of my country' and targeted my brother and his friend. Sushma Swaraj, the local BJP team and the Telangana government are supporting us. We want the body to be here at the earliest," Shastri added.

Shastri's remarks are supported by figures also. The Southern Poverty Law Center--a leading monitor of hate crime in the US--recorded a surge in hate crimes across the nation in the 10 days after Trump was elected. Before Trump administration took over the White House, the daily hate crime tally was in single digits.

"It surged to over 200 the day after his election and a total of 867 occurred in the nine days that followed. Many of the attackers in these incidents actually invoked Trump's name," stated the SPLC.

Even the New York Police Department admits the rise in hate crime in the US.
"There is a 115% increase in bias crimes right after Trump's election victory," said chief of detectives of the NYPD, Robert Boyce.

OneIndia News