B’lore techie found dead in New Jersey hotel room

Rajiv Kalkod TNN 

Bangalore: A 26-year-old techie from Bangalore, who was in the US on an assignment, allegedly committed suicide in a New Jersey hotel room last week. He was wanted in connection with the murder of an American woman. 
    Pawan Kumar Anjaiah, a software engineer with business and technology services major Cognizant, died allegedly of drug overdose, according to US media reports quoting Delaware state police. He died in a room in Belleville city of Wayne county in New Jersey state on June 19. 
    The body of Pawan, a resident of RT Nagar, is in a Belleville hospital, sources told TOI. With no sign of the body arriving in Bangalore though a week has elapsed since his death, Pawan’s family accused his employers of having washed their hands of the case and telling them not to speak to the media about it. But Cognizant denied this and said it was providing all assistance. 
    Pawan’s family believes he was innocent and not the kind who would be involved in any crime. Delaware police were looking for Pawan in connection with the alleged murder of Danille Mehlman, a 26-year-old teacher and mother of a four-year-old boy. Her body was found with multiple stab wounds in a hotel room in Dewey Beach, Delaware, on June 18. 
    After preliminary investigations, Delaware police sounded an alert for Pawan, who was believed to have been sharing the room with the woman and possessed a deadly weapon. A day later, Pawan’s body was found in the locked room of Belleville Motor Lodge. Pawan, who went to the US on an H-1B visa (non-immigrant) in early 2011, was scheduled to return to Bangalore next week. IN THE HOUR OF TRAGEDY 
    It’s 
    Cognizant’s responsibility to bring the body back to Bangalore. First, they asked us not to go to the media. Now, they’re not answering our calls. Anjaiah | PAWAN’S FATHER We’re working with US authorities to see what assistance we can provide, including the return of his body to the parents. Our HR officials did not tell anyone not to go to the media. A Cognizant spokesman Pawan met woman through dating site 
Bangalore: Software engineer from Bangalore, Pawan Kumar Anjaiah (in pic), who reportedly committed suicide in the US, was wanted in connection with the murder of an American schoolteacher. 
    When he was a resident of New Wilmington, Delaware, Pawan reportedly met Danielle Mehlman through an online dating site. According to sources, Pawan allegedly stabbed Mehlman all over her body. Police located his image from a surveillance camera at a mall and issued an alert. 
    Blood and visceral samples from Pawan’s body have been sent for forensic tests to identify the drug he consumed. Pawan was the lone son of farmer Anjaiah and Ratnagangamma based in Pavagada of Tumkur district. Pawan stayed in Bangalore with the family of his elder sister, Gunasheela.

Pawan