Indian Student Found Dead in US, Family Seeks Probe

• 22-year-old Indian student found dead in the US after going missing
• Family in Karnataka struggling to accept the loss
• Parents seek emergency visas to travel to Berkeley
• Demand for faster and thorough investigation

GG News Bureau
Bengaluru/San Francisco, 17th Feb: The family of a 22-year-old Indian postgraduate student found dead in the United States days after he went missing is struggling to come to terms with the tragedy and is seeking a faster investigation.

Saketh Sreenivasaiah, a Master of Science student at the University of California, Berkeley, originally from Karnataka, had been missing since February 9. His body was later recovered, a development confirmed by the Indian Consulate in San Francisco.

According to Karnataka MLC Arathi Krishna, who met the student’s parents, Sreenivasaiah and Anupama, the family is still in shock and unable to accept the loss. She said Saketh had spoken to them a day before he went missing, and everything appeared normal, with no indication of stress or problems.

Krishna, who also serves as deputy chairman of the NRI Forum of Karnataka, said the family has no relatives in the US and fears that the investigation might slow down if the body is sent back without their presence.

She said the parents want to travel to Berkeley personally to identify the body and interact with university and police authorities to understand the circumstances of the death. They have requested assistance in securing emergency visas so they can travel at the earliest.

Krishna added that the parents are still hoping there may have been some mistake in identification, as they remain in deep shock.

According to local reports, Saketh’s backpack, containing his passport and laptop, was found on a doorstep in the Park Hills neighbourhood. Earlier, local police had appealed to the public for information regarding his disappearance.

Authorities have not yet released detailed information about the circumstances surrounding his death.