Software engineer from Telangana drowns in USA

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, July 14

Tragedy struck the family of a 31-year-old software engineer who hails from Adilabad district in Telangana when he accidentally drowned in a lake in Washington DC in the United States of America on Sunday.

The accident came to light today. Identified as Aleti Nihar Reddy, the younger son of Laxma Reddy and Shobha Reddy, the software engineer hails from Bhorigaon village in Echoda Mandal. As the news of Aleti reached the village, the entire neighbourhood went into mourning.

According to relatives, who first heard about the accident from the parents of the deceased, Aleti was holidaying at the waterfalls, Lake Sammamish, a popular tourist spot of Washington DC, when his foot slipped, and he fell into the lake.

The entire family was together, but none could rescue him. By the time help arrived, he had drowned and declared dead upon being pulled out. “It was an accident, his foot slipped at a slippery spot, and he fell into the lake, resulting in his drowning as he did not know how to swim,” a local repeated as the family told him.

Aleti and his brother Nikhil moved to the USA about three years ago. Two years ago, he married a girl from Hyderabad in 2019 and is now expecting their first child. The parents of the deceased were visiting the two sons, and all had decided to enjoy Sunday by going for a picnic. The incident has sent shock waves among family and friends.

At the same time, Jaya, the wife of one Shanmukha, who hails from Vishakhapatnam in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, has appealed to the government for help as her husband has been arrested and jailed in Dakar, Senegal, on charges of drug trafficking. She has said her husband has been framed as the employer did not want to pay the accumulated salary.

Giving details to the media, Jaya said her husband was working in Uganda but had come to India due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since he did not find work here, he took up the offer to sail, something he did before marriage. She said four out of the seven crew members arrested from the ASSO 6 cargo ship were Indians — Shanmukha from Visakhapatnam and Mahesh from Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh, and two others, Chandan and Krishna.

She said her husband told her that he had no clue that the ship was carrying drugs and that he and the other Indians were innocent. All have been detained in a Dakar prison, and they are only able to communicate with their families through a Senegalese man they had met in jail who has since been released. Jaya said that she was seeking support from Indian authorities to get her husband and other crew members released and brought to India.