B Kiran, a software engineer from Andhra Pradesh, died in a Johannesburg hospital in the wee hours of Tuesday after he was shot at by unknown assailants last Thursday.
According to the information available, Kiran, 28, died at the hospital while recuperating after his surgery. The doctors had operated upon him and removed the two bullets.
Kiran, a resident of Arepally village in Warangal district, was shot at and injured on last Thursday, while he was on his way back from his office. Kiran had stayed with his family last month and returned to South Africa only on June 27, his father B Shankaraiah said.
Expressing shock and grief over the incident, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 5 lakh for Kiran's family. He also assured the family that the state government will help in bringing back Kiran's body for the last rites.
Earlier, district superintendent of police V C Sajjanar had tried to make arrangements to send some of Kiran's family members to Johannesburg, in view of his critical condition.
Sources in Kiran's family said he had been working in South Africa for the last two years. "We don't know exactly what happened. We were informed by Kiran's colleagues about the incident," Shankaraiah said.
Kiran's killing is the latest in a series of attacks against students and professionals from Andhra Pradesh in United States, Australia and other places. Last month, two students from the state, Shravan Kumar and Kazim Ali Khan, had become the target of racist attacks in Australia.
