A man who was just released from prison after being wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years for a murder he didn't commit was detained almost as soon as he walked free.
Subramanyam Vedam, 64, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of a Pennsylvania man, and it took decades for him to be exonerated of the murder charge as evidence proved his innocence.
Over 40 years ago, Vedam was arrested and convicted of killing 19-year-old student Tom Kinser, who had once been his roommate.
Kinser had been missing for nine months before his body was found with a gunshot wound to his head, and on the day he had gone missing, Vedam had asked him for a ride.
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Always maintaining his innocence, Vedam's supporters insisted that the prosecution had no physical evidence tying him to the murder, and when new evidence surfaced in 2022, it exonerated him.
However, upon his release, he didn't even manage to get as far as seeing his family before he was detained by agents from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
They want to deport him to India, a country he hasn't lived in since he was a baby, and his legal team are now having to fight the deportation order.
Vedam's family knew he was going to have to overcome the deportation order issued in 1988 if he was ever freed from prison.
His sister Saraswathi Vedam told the BBC: "He was held wrongly and one would think that he conducted himself with such honour and purpose and integrity that that should mean something."
Having spent the vast majority of his life behind bars, Vedam has said he wants to keep a focus on being exonerated for the murder he didn't commit.
"I want us to focus on the win," he said. "My name has been cleared, I'm no longer a prisoner, I'm a detainee."
ICE insist that they will hold the 64-year-old man imprisoned in custody until he is deported, while his family said it is 'deeply disappointing that we didn't even have a moment to hold him in our arms'.
A spokesperson for ICE claimed to People that Vedam was a 'career criminal with a rap sheet dating back to 1980' and insisted that the man would be 'held in ICE custody while the agency arranges for his removal in accordance with all applicable laws and due-process requirements'.
Vedam moved to the US from India when he was nine months old, and his family say that any of his relatives still living in India are distant, while his sister and her children live in the US.
He is a legal permanent resident of the US, with his citizenship application accepted before his arrest, and both of his parents having been US citizens.
LADbible have contacted ICE for further comment.
Topics: US News, Crime, World News
Joe Harker