Indian community rattled after engineer’s killing

The slaying of a 31-year-old mechanical engineer from India last week has rattled members of the Atlanta-area Indian community.

A friend became concerned about Sudhir Kumar Rudraraju when he didn’t answer phone calls on the evening of Feb. 2 and failed to show up for his job at Toyota Automotive Group the following day. Police officers who went to check on Rudraraju at his home on Magnolia Glen Walk near Norcross found him laying in a pool of blood in the foyer, a police report said. He died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to a death certificate.

The Telugu Association of Metro Atlanta (TAMA), a nonprofit group with about 1,500 members who hail from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, is raising money in conjunction with several area temples and other Indian organizations to help with Rudraraju’s funeral costs. His body will be shipped back to India, said the organization’s president, Tangirala Reddy.

Rudraraju was unmarried and lived with his sister, who was visiting their family in India when he was killed, according to reports in India’s national newspaper, The Hindu. Rudraraju reportedly obtained his masters degree from Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta.

Reddy said the killing has raised fears within the local Indian community, who appeal for justice and solicit contributions for his family on the TAMA Web site (www.tama.org).

“Me and my family, we are scared, too, because of all these random things happening,” Reddy said. “There is a lot of theft and burglaries right in Atlanta that are targeted to the Indian community.”

Gwinnett police spokesman Cpl. David Schiralli said Monday “We’re not aware of any persons of the Indian community being targeted specifically for any sort of crime.”

Investigators have not released any information about the motive or circumstances surrounding Rudraraju’s death, but police said they are still following all possible leads.