US Navy veteran who killed Indian techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla sentenced to life

WASHINGTON: A US Navy veteran who killed Indian techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla and injured two others at a suburban Kansas City bar last year, in a racially motivated hate crime has been sentenced to life. In March this year, 52-year-old Adam Purinton had pleaded guilty to the charges of murdering Kuchibhotla. 

He was charged with premeditated first-degree murder of the 32-year-old Indian techie and two counts of attempted first-degree murder in the shootings of his friend, Alok Madasani, and a bystander, who chased Purinton after he fled the Austin's Bar and Grill in Olathe city on February 22 last year. While he has been sentenced to life in prison for Kuchibhotla's murder, he has got 165 months imprisonment for each of the other two murder charges. Purinton would be eligible for parole in 50 years, and is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Before attacking Kuchibhotla, Purinton had yelled, "Get out of my country". Kuchibhotla succumbed to his injuries later. Federal prosecutors had argued that Purinton committed offences after substantial planning and premeditation and attempted to kill more than one person in a single criminal episode. They also said that he knowingly created a grave risk of death to others on the scene.

Kuchibhotla is survived by his wife Sunayana Dumala. Thanking the court, Sunayana said: "Today's sentencing in the murder of my husband will not bring back my Srinu, but it sends a strong message that hate is never acceptable. I want to thank the District Attorney's office and the Olathe police for their efforts to bring this man to justice," she said.