Hyderabad, Feb 28 (DHNS): The cargo section of Rajiv Gandhi Airport in Shamshabad was heavy with grief as the Air India flight AI619 touched down from Mumbai with the body of Srinivas Kuchibhotla.

Srinivas was killed by an American army veteran at a Kansas bar in an apparent act of racism. His body was flown from Newark to Mumbai before being brought to Hyderabad by a domestic flight.

After completing document works at the Indian Consulate by 11.15 am on February 26, the Air India flight AI144 brought his body to Mumbai at 3 pm on Monday.

The body was accompanied by his widow Sunayana Dumala, younger brother Saikishore, his wife and a close friend.

Sunayana has been working in the US on an H4 (dependent) visa and has returned with the knowledge that she will not be able to enter America. As Srinivas’ green card application was still under process, her lawyers are examining ways of letting her return to her home in Kansas.

The body was taken from the airport to the residence of Srinivas’ parents in Praneeth Bounty near Bachupally on the city outskirts. “We have been eagerly awaiting his return for the past one year,” Srinivas’ older brother K Parusuram, who lives here, said. “Last year, he came home for a function. Now, he has come back in a coffin,” Parusuram said.

On seeing the body, the parents of the slain techie, K Madhusudhana Rao and K Vardhini, broke down. A large number of close relatives and friends were present when the coffin was unloaded from the ambulance. Family sources said Srinivas would be cremated at Mahaprasthanam crematorium in Jubilee Hills at 11.30 pm on Tuesday.