Two US courts have ordered immigration officials not to deport Subramanyam Vedam, the 64-year-old Indian-origin man who spent four decades in prison before his murder conviction was overturned earlier this year. Vedam was nine months old when he came to the US with his parents legally from India. He grew up in State College, where his father taught at Penn State.

An immigration judge stayed his deportation on Thursday until the Bureau of Immigration Appeals decides whether to review his case. That could take several months. Vedam’s lawyers also got a stay the same day in the US District Court in Pennsylvania but said that the case may be on hold given the immigration court ruling.

A False Case

Known by his relatives as “Subu”, Vedam is a legal permanent resident of the US and, according to his lawyer, had his citizenship application accepted before his arrest in 1982 in a murder case. Vedam was accused of killing his friend Thomas Kinser in 1980. He was the last person seen with Kinser and was twice convicted of killing him, despite a lack of witnesses or motive.

In August, a judge overturned his conviction after Vedam’s lawyers found new ballistics evidence that prosecutors had never disclosed.

He was set to walk free from a Pennsylvania prison on October 3 after waiting more than four decades to clear his name but was taken straight into immigration custody.

Vedam is currently detained at a short-term holding centre in Alexandria, Louisiana, that’s equipped with an airstrip for deportations. He was transferred there from central Pennsylvania last week, his relatives told the Associated Press.

Why ICE Wants To Deport Subu

The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is seeking to deport Vedam over his no-contest plea to charges of LSD delivery, filed when he was about 20. His lawyers argue that the four decades he wrongly spent in prison, where he earned degrees and tutored fellow inmates, should outweigh the drug case.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Monday that the reversal in the murder case does not negate the drug conviction.

“Having a single conviction vacated will not stop ICE’s enforcement of the federal immigration law,” Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, said in an email.

Family’s Plea

Vedam’s sister said Monday that the family is relieved “that two different judges have agreed that Subu’s deportation is unwarranted while his effort to reopen his immigration case is still pending.”

“We’re also hopeful that the Board of Immigration Appeals will ultimately agree that Subu’s deportation would represent another untenable injustice,” Saraswathi Vedam said, “inflicted on a man who not only endured 43 years in a maximum-security prison for a crime he didn’t commit, but has also lived in the US since he was 9 months old.” (NDTV)

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The families of four passengers who died in the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, have filed a lawsuit in Delaware Superior Court against Boeing and Honeywell, alleging that negligence and a defective fuel cutoff switch led to the crash, which killed 260 people.

The flight had departed Ahmedabad for London on June 12 but went down shortly after takeoff, killing 229 passengers, 12 crew members, and 19 people on the ground. Only one passenger survived.

In a complaint lodged on Tuesday, plaintiffs blamed the aircraft manufacturer and the supplier of the fuel cutoff switch, saying both companies failed to address a known safety hazard.

The families said in their filing that the locking mechanism on the fuel cutoff switch of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was either prone to disengagement or missing altogether. Placed directly behind the thrust levers, the switch could be shut off inadvertently, cutting fuel supply and thrust at a critical point in takeoff.

According to the lawsuit, by placing the switch in such a vulnerable position, Boeing created conditions where “normal cockpit activity could result in inadvertent fuel cutoff.” The filing added, “What did Honeywell and Boeing do to prevent the inevitable catastrophe? Nothing.”

The families allege that Boeing and Honeywell were aware of the potential hazard linked to the switch. They pointed to a 2018 advisory by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warning about disengaged locking mechanisms on some Boeing aircraft.

The plaintiffs are relatives of Kantaben Dhirubhai Paghadal, Naavya Chirag Paghadal, Kuberbhai Patel, and Babiben Patel. They are citizens of India or the United Kingdom and currently reside in one of those countries.

Boeing, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, hasn’t issued any statement on the lawsuit. Honeywell, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, has not yet responded to media inquiries. Both corporations are incorporated in Delaware, where the lawsuit was filed.

INVESTIGATION INTO CRASH CONTINUES

Authorities in India, the United Kingdom and the United States have not yet determined the definitive cause of the crash. India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau released a preliminary report in July, which depicted confusion inside the cockpit during the final moments of the flight.

Also in July, Bryan Bedford, the administrator of the US FAA, said he had a “high level of confidence” that neither a mechanical malfunction nor an unintended movement of the fuel control system was responsible.

Boeing has faced a series of costly legal challenges in recent years. The company paid out more than $20 billion in settlements, compensation and other costs following two fatal crashes of its 737 MAX aircraft in 2018 and 2019. Those accidents, which killed a total of 346 people, led regulators worldwide to ground the model for nearly two years. (India Today)

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