After deaths, now an Indian student missing in US: What's going on?

A day after an Indian student, aged 20, was found dead in the United States' Boston, another Indian student from Hyderabad has gone missing since 7 March.

The India-based family of Mohammed Abdul Arfath, 25, claims to have received a ransom demand.

The matter came to light when Telangana-based Majlis Bachao Tahreek spokesperson posted copies of Arfath's passport and the letter that his family wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, as per News18.

Here's all we know about him.

About Mohammed Abdul

Mohammed Abdul Arfath is pursuing a Master’s degree in Information Technology (IT) at Cleveland University in Ohio, as per India Today.

He used to live in Hyderabad's Ambedkar Nagar in the Medchal-Malkajgiri neighbourhood of Nacharam, The Hindu claimed.

He departed for the United States in May 2023 to continue his education.

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According to The Times of India, his father was a supervisor at a building site.

Ransom call

Later that week, Mohammed Saleem, his father, allegedly received a call from an unknown number from someone claiming to be in a gang.

The caller stated that they had taken Abdul hostage and sought a $1,200 ransom to ensure his safe release.

If the ransom wasn't paid, they further threatened to sell Abdul's kidney.

“I am in a state of shock. The caller refused to give evidence that my son was in his custody. I tried telling him that we would follow his instructions, but he got angry and refused to communicate further,” Saleem told TOI.

Lookout notice

On 8 March, Abdul's US-based relatives reported him missing to the Cleveland Police.

In its lookout notice, the Cleveland police requested that locals contact them if they saw the 25-year-old missing. The police described him as a five-foot-eight-tall person weighing 150 pounds, having black hair and brown eyes.

“He was last seen at 1700 E, 13^th Street in Cleveland. He was wearing a white T-shirt, red jacket and blue jeans,” the police stated, as per the newspaper.

On 18 March, the family also contacted the Indian consulate in Chicago, asking for help finding Abdul.

In an interview with India Today, Abeda, Abdul's mother, stated that she had not heard from her son since 7 March.

She pleaded with the Centre to get involved, to make sure her son returned safely.

Another Indian student found dead

Originating from Andhra Pradesh's Burripalem, Guntur, Abhijeeth Paruchuru was found dead in Boston, with some media sources claiming he had been murdered.

The 20-year-old travelled to Boston University in America to study engineering.

Suspicions had been raised about his death after his body was found in a car deep in a forest.

On Monday, nevertheless, the Indian Consulate General in New York declared that foul play was no longer suspected. As the inquiry goes on, his parents, who reside in Connecticut, stay in constant communication with the detectives.

Additionally, it was announced by the Indian Consulate in New York that they had been actively involved in the case, helping with documentation and the return of Paruchuru's dead remains to India.

According to PTI, Paruchuru's final rites have already taken place in Tenali, his Andhra Pradesh hometown. His body was brought to India with assistance from the US-based nonprofit organisation TEAM Aid.

Also read: Six deaths of Indian students in the US in a month: Is safety a concern?

Rising cases of attacks on Indian students in the US

There have been at least nine Indian and Indian-origin student deaths in the US since the start of 2024.

Earlier this month, Amarnath Ghosh , a 34-year-old trained classical dancer from India and a student of Washington University, was shot dead in St Louis, Missouri. Kuchipudi and Bharatnatyam dancer Ghosh migrated to the US from West Bengal last year “to follow his dancing dreams”. He was shot several times near the border of St. Louis’ Academy and Central West End neighbourhoods. He died on the spot.

Akul B Dhawan, an 18-year-old at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was found dead last month with signs of hypothermia.

On 5 February, Sameer Kamath, a 23-year-old Indian-American student at Purdue University, was found dead in an Indiana nature preserve.

In another case, Vivek Taneja, a 41-year-old Indian-origin IT professional, was attacked outside a restaurant in Washington and sustained potentially fatal injuries on 2 February. A week before that, Indian student Syed Mazahir Ali was attacked by robbers in Chicago.

In January, 25-year-old MBA student Vivek Saini was fatally attacked in Georgia State’s Lithonia City by a homeless drug addict.

The same month, Shreyas Reddy Beniger, a 19-year-old student at the Lindner School of Business in Ohio State, was found dead. However, local authorities had ruled out foul play.

Neel Acharya, who studied at Indiana’s Purdue University was confirmed dead days after being reported missing on 28 January.

US response

The Indian Embassy in Washington and its consulates around the country held virtual interactions with Indian students from across the US.

They held discussions about various aspects of student well-being and ways to stay connected with the larger community in response to the spate of attacks on Indians and people of Indian origin, including students.

Led by Charge d'Affaires and Ambassador Sripriya Ranganathan, the discussion included about 150 office bearers of the Indian Student Association and students from 90 US universities.

The consul generals for India in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle also participated.

With inputs from agencies