Washington, December 16
As the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) joined the hunt for the killers of two Indian students at a US university, the winter break there posed a new problem to investigators looking for leads.

The two Ph.D students, Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma (31) of Hyderabad, India, and Kiran Kumar Allam (33) of Kurnool, India, were found shot dead at the Louisiana State University (LSU) apartments at Baton Rouge on Thursday night.

With final exams finishing on Saturday, students who might have information useful to investigators started leaving for the vacation, the police faced difficulties in identifying suspects and potential witnesses. “We’re up against a rapidly ticking clock in terms of identifying potential witnesses,” said Baton Rouge police department sergeant Don Kelly, a spokesman for the law enforcement task force investigating the double murder.

“The police has some leads, but they have not been able to identify the prime suspects yet,” Indian consul-general in Houston S.M. Gavai told IANS. The LSU chancellor Sean O'Keefe said, “The FBI is also involved in the investigations besides the police of the university and the state.” India’s ambassador to the US, Ronen Sen, too spoke to Keefe and was assured that the police was doing everything to apprehend the killers. Sen in turn assured him of all help in investigating the crime. Sen also spoke to the spouses of the two slain students.

Two Indian officials, K.P. Pillai, consul at Houston and Alok Pandey, first secretary at the Indian embassy in Washington, had a series of meetings in Baton Rouge on Saturday with the university authorities, the police department, the Indian Students Association and the Indian-American community.

The autopsy of the two students had been completed, Pandey said. The bodies will be flown to India after embalming as requested by the victims’ families.

The investigation focused on three black men who, the police said were seen hurriedly leaving from the apartment complex where Allam lived on Thursday. The police also searched for information about a possible fourth suspect, who they believed drove a getaway car.

But the police had no real description of the men, other than to say they were young and got into small to mid-sized four-door car whose headlights were turned on only after the car had left the parking lot.

“That’s the best information we have at this time. It’s still very early in the investigation, and other leads may come forward,” Kelly said.

“We have not established a motive. All we know was there was a double murder,” he said. There was no forced entry, and while some items were missing from the apartment, Kelly said it was too early to consider it an armed robbery.

Police patrols were stepped up near the Edward Gay apartments at the edge of the campus where the two students were shot in the head in a home attack.

The apartment complex is home to 288 residents, 94 percent of whom are international students. — IANS