Prof.Loganathan's family on the way to Virginia
Prof. G V Loganathan, 51, hailing from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and an alumnus of PSG Tech Coimbatore & IIT, Kanpur, was killed in the firing by a suspected Chinese student while he was taking classes at Civil and Environmental Engineering department in the Virginia Tech university, United States.
An Indian student, Minal Panchal, who has been missing since the incident yesterday, was also feared to be among the victims. The professor, who is survived by his wife and two daughters, had been teaching at the varsity for 15 years. Though there was no official word on Loganathan's death, the family is understood to have been informed by the authorities. "The family was informed by the authorities and condolences were paid by friends and students at their residence on the campus," Ranjana Chachra, a neighbour said.
Loganathan's colleague Professor Mallikarjun Kumar told, "One of the classrooms he was teaching in were involved in the shootout we didn't know exactly what was going on. "His wife called up saying we didn't hear anything from my husband and are trying to locate him. So we tried the local hospitals and tried to locate whether he is there or not and we could not find him and after that around five news broke out that he is among the victims," Mallikarjun said.
Loganathan obtained his bachelor's degree from PSG Tech - Coimbatore, his masters from IIT Kanpur and his doctorate from Purdue University in the United States. He received an award for excellence in teaching last year besides numerous other recognitions and was considered one of the department's top ten teachers.
The parents and family members of G V Loganathan, one of the victims in the shootout at the Virginia University in the United States, are going to the university campus to attend and perform the last rites, one of the family members said. Loganathan, a native of Karatadipalayam in Gobichettipalayam in Erode district of Tamil Nadu, had expressed his wish that his body should be buried in Virginia itself, if something happened to him there, Palanivel, brother of Loganathan said.
Though the ministry of Exernal Affairs expressed its willingness to bring the body to India, the parents, in order to fulfill their son's wish, wanted to go there, he said. Besides the parents, three brothers, their wives and Loganathan's father-in-law would go to Virginia as early as possible. Since the parents and two of the family members have no passports, Erode District Collector has been approached to provide necessary help for the onward journey, he said
