Andhra student attacked in US

Kadiyala Muralikrishna, who is doing his Masters in the University of Mississippi, was seriously injured when a group of African Americans, reportedly,   attacked him after a spat.

The incident occurred in a pub, where Muralikrishna works, over non payment of a bill. Muralikrishna is a native of Guntur district.

Muralikrishna was cornered in the parking lot, severely beaten up by the men as they hurled racial abuses against him. He was dragged in a moving car for several kilometres as his shirt was caught in the car driven by the attackers.

Critical condition

A seriously injured Muralikrishna was taken to the hospital where he is said to be in a critical condition. Eight students from Andhra Pradesh have been killed in the USA in the last 15 months months.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who is on a pilgrimage to Bethlehem, in his first reaction to the attacks on Telugu students abroad, especially in Australia,  refused to “generalise” that Indian students or Telugu students were being targeted.

“Every incident has some different bearings or reasons,” he said. He however wanted “effective steps” to be taken by those countries to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

Kumar ‘out of danger’

A 25-year-old Indian student, who had slipped into coma after being stabbed by a group of teens here, is “out of danger” and has been taken off the life support system, according to a leading community member who visited the youth at the local hospital, reports PTI from Melbourne.

“He has come out of coma and moved his hands,” said T J Rao while giving an update on the condition of Kumar, who was stabbed with a screwdriver on Sunday last. “Kumar is out of life support, but the doctors are still not very sure about his full recovery,” Rao said after visiting the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where he met Kumar.