By IANS,
Hyderabad : The family members of the Indian student murdered near Birmingham last week have dropped their plans to leave for Britain after they were told her body would be flown home sooner.
V.S. Jyothirmayi’s parents and sister changed their plans at the last minute after they were told her body could arrive in their native Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh May 21 or 22.
They had made all arrangements for the visit to catch a last glimpse of her as they were initially informed that it might take four to six weeks for the body to be brought home.
Jyothirmayi, 23, a postgraduate student in public health at Wolverhampton University, was found murdered in her apartment on the outskirts of Birmingham May 6.
N. Nagraju Kumar, who was sharing the apartment with her, was found in an injured condition. Two days later, police arrested the 24-year-old man on charges of murder. He allegedly inflicted injuries on himself to mislead the police.
Jyothirmayi’s father N. Saibabu told reporters in Vijayawada Wednesday that the British police were likely to hand over the body to the Indian high commission in London Thursday.
The European Telugu Association informed the family that it might not take as long for the body to reach India as anticipated earlier.
The association has assured the girl’s father that they along with the high commission would make all arrangements to send the body to Vijayawada.
The family members were ready to leave for Birmingham and the Regional Passport Office here had issued passports to them Monday by completing formalities within a few hours.
The Andhra Pradesh government had also announced it would bear the cost of their travel and the expenses to bring the body to India.
Meanwhile, authorities have also issued a passport to murder suspect Kumar’s father N. Shivanarayana.
The principal of a private college who believes his son is innocent, Shivanarayana will be shortly leaving for Britain to hire legal assistance to Kumar, currently in the custody of West Midlands police.
The father said he had received a phone call from Kumar’s friends after the incident and they had said some unidentified people had attacked him and Jyothirmayi.
Kumar, who is from Hyderabad, was a postgraduate student of physiotherapy in the same university.