Sameer Kamath, a 23-year-old Indian-American student at Purdue University was found dead in a nature preserve in Indiana this week. Authorities have ruled his death as suicide, saying that it was from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, news agency PTI has reported.
Kamath, a US citizen, was found dead in the woods on 5 February at approximately 5 pm in NICHES Land Trust - Crow’s Grove in Williamsport, Indiana.
On Wednesday, Justin Brummett, Coroner at Warren County Coroner's Office, in a press release said that a forensic autopsy was performed on Kamath on February 6 in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
The press release from the coroner's office said that the preliminary cause of death was a “gunshot wound of the head" and Kamath died by “suicide”. A toxicology report is pending.
“Through extensive investigation by the Warren County Coroner's Office in conjunction with multiple other local and federal agencies, we are now able to release a preliminary cause and manner of death," the release said as quoted by PTI.
The coroner's office stated that that prior to releasing the information, Kamath’s family was notified of the results. "This is an ongoing investigation with the Warren County Coroner's Office, Warren County Sheriff's Office, Purdue University Administration and other supporting agencies, it said.
“Our deepest sympathies and condolences go out to the family and we hope they are respected during such a difficult time," Brummett said.
A report in The Purdue Exponent said that Kamath was a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering. The report added that mechanical engineering head Eckhard Groll said in an email to the ME community that Kamath was from Massachusetts.
He “received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and came to Purdue in the summer of 2021,” the Purdue Exponent report added.
As per his LinkedIn profile, Kamath was to graduate from the doctoral program in 2025.
Meanwhile, Kamath’s death is the latest in a string of tragic incidents among students of Indian origin and from India in the US.
Just recently, another Indian student, Syed Mazahir Ali, hailing from Hyderabad and pursuing Masters in information technology, was chased and brutally attacked by three unidentified men in Chicago. His wife, who is in India currently, said, " My husband Mazahir Ali went to Chicago for his masters. A deadly attack happened on him on February 4 at around 1 am...Around 6 am in the morning I received the attack's Whatsapp video...He is seriously injured...The govt there did not provide any proper treatment to him."
Last month, another Purdue student 19-year-old Neel Acharya, who had been reported missing, was found dead on the Purdue University West Lafayette campus. On 28 January, Tippecanoe County Coroner’s Office officials were called around 11:30 a.m. to 500 Allison Road in West Lafayette for a possible dead body. Authorities have said that there was no trauma or significant injuries found during the autopsy on Acharya and "no foul play is suspected at this time".
Acharya’s demise came after the news of the gruesome murder of Vivek Saini, another Indian student who had recently earned an MBA degree in the US and was hammered to death by a homeless drug addict in Georgia state’s Lithonia city. Last week in Cincinnati, Shreyas Reddy, an Indian student at the Linder School of Business, was found dead under unknown circumstances.
(With inputs from PTI)
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