Kin feel Pawan was killed for money

Blame company for not bringing back body

The family and friends of Pawan Kumar Anjaiah, the techie from the City who was found dead in the US, refuse to buy the suicide theory and say that he was murdered for money.

Gopal Krishna, Pawan’s uncle, told Deccan Herald that he might have been killed for money. Pawan was earning $ 4,000 per month (about Rs 2.2 lakh).

“But he was only sending home Rs 10,000 every month. He had a liking for cars and was about to buy one. He had also told his family about it. Pawan had also borrowed about Rs 3 lakh from two of his Indian friends recently. He was saving the money to buy a car and a house in Bangalore on his return. In all, he had some eight lakh rupees with him.

All the money has disappeared now. His Standard Chartered Bank account in Bangalore has zero balance and other accounts too have no money. Where has all the money gone,” he questioned.

According to Gopal Krishna, Danielle Mehlman, the lady who was later found murdered in Dewey beach, was a trap for his money. The family members are not ready to buy the version of the authorities in the US.

They demanded a parallel inquiry by the Indian authorities in order to get to the bottom of the case. “We want a fair and unbiased probe into the case that will clear the name of our boy,” Gopal Krishna said.

Help sought

Gopal Krishna also alleged that Cognizant Technologies, the company that had deputed Pawan to the US, was not helping them bring back the body.

“The company informed us over phone that Pawan was dead and that we must make arrangements to bring the body back home. They are not taking any responsibility, nor they are answering our calls. He would not have gone to the US had the company had not sent him,” he said.

Responding to an e-mail from Deccan Herald, a Cognizant spokesperson said the company was in touch with the family and the authorities in the US.“Cognizant will bear the shipment cost of Pawan’s body to India.

Also, our HR and the legal teams in the US are working with law enforcement agencies to bring back Pawan’s body as early as possible. Unfortunately, the process is complicated,” the spokesman said in a statement.

Family upset

However, the family members of Pawan are upset that they have still not been able to get the body.

“It will be over a week tomorrow and we still have no word on his body. This is not a situation we expected to be in,” Gopala Krishna said.