US shootout: Prof’s relatives leave

With the Tamil Nadu Government, the Regional Passport Office and the US Consulate pitching in to facilitate issue of passports and visa clearances

With the Tamil Nadu Government, the Regional Passport Office and the US Consulate pitching in to facilitate issue of passports and visa clearances, relatives of slain professor G V Loganathan, killed during the Virginia shoot-out, prepared to take a flight to the US late tonight to join his wife Usha and daughters Uma and Abhirami at Blacksburg.

It had been the wish of Prof Loganathan that if he died in the US he should be cremated at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute to which he dedicated a good part of his life. Loganathan had begun his teaching career at the Institute as Assistant Professor in 1979.

Nine of his family members will board a Lufthansa flight from Chennai at 1.30 a.m. Thursday to Washington from where they will take a connecting flight to Roanoke, the closest point to Virginia. Usha had been informed by the Virginia police that they would release Loganathan’s body this evening, relatives said.

Story continues below this ad

Looking distraught and shaken, four of the family members, including Loganathan’s parents G K Vasudevan and Kannammal, and his younger brother Sengottuvelavan and wife Thamizhselvi, arrived in Chennai early this morning by train from Gobichettypalayam.

As all four did not possess passports, they arrived at the Regional Passport Office at 9.30 am. Regional Passport Officer Sumathy Ravichandran took charge, ensuring that the passports were issued to them through ‘tatkal’ by 11.30 a.m. “Considering the circumstances, we waived the tatkal fees of Rs 1,500 for each passport for all the four,” the officer told reporters. She said her office had also blocked the air tickets for travel to US tonight for all the family members.

Mobbed by media cameras, a distressed Sengottuvelavan pleaded with reporters to leave them alone. “We are trying to cope with a terrible tragedy as well as trying to reach my sister-in-law and her children who are alone in this hour of grief as soon as possible,” he said. His wife, Selvi, joined in the plea, breaking down as she accepted her passport from the officer.

Later, another group of relatives, including Loganathan’s second brother Palanivel, his wife Nirmala, cousin P Kumaresan and his wife Deepa and Usha’s father V Ramakrishnan arrived in Chennai. All nine, who had been given appointments at the US Consulate at 4 pm, were issued visa clearances for their US trip in a matter of half-an-hour.

Story continues below this ad

Earlier in the day, minister Arcot Veerasamy told the Assembly that the state government would bear the entire air ticket expenses of the family. “The family may not be prepared for such an exigency,” he said, adding that Chief Minister M Karunanidhi “could not sleep last night” after he heard about the tragedy.

Besides urging the passport office and the US Consulate to quickly facilitate the family’s travel arrangements, the state government also made available an official from the protocol department and vehicles to take Loganathan’s family members around and ensure that there were no hitches in their travel plans.

In the Assembly, a Congress member urged the government to have a portrait of Loganathan unveiled at the Modakurichi Government School in Coimbatore where he had studied “considering the great academic achievement of the man, who hailed from a middle class family.”