Ritu Jha–
An Indian-origin student and a Kuchipudi dancer doing a Master’s at Washington University in St. Louis was shot dead on Tuesday, Feb.27. Evita Caldwell, public information officer at St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department did not disclose the name to indica, but said, “At this time, I can confirm that we are investigating the death of a South Asian decent male. However, we are unable to verify his identity at this time as we are attempting to locate a next-of-kin and also positively verify the victim’s identity.”
However, a Gofundme page has named him as Amarnath Ghosh. He was pursuing a Master’s degree at Washington University in St. Louis, while serving as faculty at the Kuchipudi Art Academy. The incident occurred near Delmar and Clarendon in the Sherman Park neighborhood, in the city’s West End.
According to Officer Caldwell email sent to indica, the police received a 911 call at about 7:09 pm. Upon arrival, they located the victim lying in the street suffering from gunshot wounds. EMS responded and pronounced the victim deceased at the scene.
One of Ghosh’s friends, Devoleena Bhattacharjee posted on Twitter asking help from the Indian Embassy. According to Bhattacharjee, Ghosh was an excellent dancer and the only child. His mother passed away three years ago, and his father died when he was a child.
“Ghosh was a dedicated student of the renowned Guru Vempati Chinna Satyam garu,” she said. According to his university profile, he was interested in exploring his diverse ethnic background, race and the diverse unity of various cultures through the compositions of Sri Rabindranath Tagore.
“As a Bengal native, his research was focused on six different compositions of Tagore which emphasize the concept of race and ethnicity through the diverse unification of many aspects from different cultures that Tagore gained through his worldly travels. Through his research, Ghosh’s main aim was to show that through dance even though we are from different diverse backgrounds its exactly what Unites us all as one. The loss of Amarnath has left us all devastated, and his absence is deeply felt within our Kuchipudi group.”
